October 16, 2014
Find inspiration for sustainable design and living at SBRC Open Day
Inspiration for sustainable living and design on display at flagship research centre’s first public open day on 25 Oct.
Residents with a desire to create their own grand designs will have the opportunity to learn how research and innovation could be applied at home at UOW’s Sustainable Buildings Research Centre (SBRC) Open Day.
The doors of the world class SBRC Building will open for a free public event on Saturday 25 October (from 9am to 1pm).
The Open Day will showcase the best in sustainable design through the features incorporated into the SBRC Building as well as the opportunity to look through the international award-winning, student Solar Decathlon project the Illawarra Flame House.
Visitors will be able to tour both buildings, view advanced products for homes and buildings and learn from experts on the day how to give their home a truly sustainable and energy efficient makeover.
SBRC Director Professor Paul Cooper said the centre’s design embodied its mission to address the challenges of making buildings more sustainable and visitors would be inspired by the latest in cutting-edge research and products on display.
“The SBRC Building includes features that enable it to produce more energy than it consumes,” Professor Cooper said. “We’ve incorporated systems such as the onsite rainwater harvesting to collect and distribute more water than we use as well as a 160kW photovoltaic system that produces more energy than the building needs.
“The building is known as a living laboratory where working demonstrations are constantly being refined to push the development of technologies and products that will be of benefit to the home owner or builder.”
Other ideas that will inspire include the use of natural ventilation and using the ground as a source for heating and cooling.
The much-loved internal green wall is an example of how an uninspiring internal space could be transformed into a green haven that improves air quality and makes a space beautiful.
The research is also a two-way exchange: Open Day attendees can participate in a survey to help SBRC determine how the Illawarra lives.
“We want to know about the sorts of challenges and decisions people have encountered in designing their home, renovating, as well as products they buy for their home to cut energy costs or address thermal comfort issues,” Professor Cooper said.
“This will provided valuable data about the local housing stock, enabling researchers to concentrate their efforts on the building types that are most prevalent in the area.”
Survey participants can win a weekend stay in the award-winning Illawarra Flame House.
The festival-style event will also include entertainment and food stalls.
Details: The SBRC Open Day is from 9am to 1pm on Saturday 25 October. SBRC is at UOW’s Innovation Campus, Squires Way, North Wollongong.
Media contact: Robyn Fumini, +61 2 4221 811, +61 435 295 535 or rdawson@uow.edu.au.
More: sbrc.uow.edu.au