This note was reviewed in October 2018 and retained for legacy.  Energy analyst and photovoltaics (PV) lecturer Muriel Watt provides an up-to-date overview of PV technology and markets in Australia. Watt shows that new technologies and lower costs ...

This note was reviewed and approved for currency in October 2018. The way we form our urban areas, the spaces they create and the values they embody, have a profound effect on the quality of people’s lives. Urban designer Jenny Donovan draws on the ...

This note provides building design professionals and other green-building stakeholders with an overview of the complex interrelationships which must be managed if green buildings are to deliver improved human productivity.  The note gives a brief ...

Post occupancy evaluations of buildings are noted for their ability to provide vital feedback regarding a building's performance in use. In addition to obtaining physical measurements of thermal performance and energy consumption, it is crucial to ...

This note was reviewed and approved for currency in September 2018.  Council House 2 (CH2) is a sustainable office building designed for the City of Melbourne. It meets the Council’s long-term need to house staff and breathes new life into an ...

This note was reviewed in September 2018 and has been retained for legacy. This article describes the upgrade of an existing government building, 55 St Andrews Place in Melbourne’s Treasury Reserve, utilising an unconventional design process and ...

This note was reviewed and approved for currency in August 2018. This note introduces readers to some of the current environmental analysis tools available within Building Information Modelling (BIM) software packages. It highlights some of the ...

This note was reviewed in October 2018 and retained for legacy. Co-housing emerged in Denmark and the Netherlands almost 40 years ago as a housing type that aimed to create neighbourhood communities that did not sacrifice the privacy of individual ...

Building T at Deakin University, Burwood in Victoria was designed by DesignInc.  The development, located in Melbourne's eastern suburbs, utilises thermal mass and hybrid ventilation systems.  This case study provides a detailed evaluation of the ...

This note was reviewed and approved for currency in August 2018. Passive design is a fundamental feature of good building design. Going further than just good orientation and fabric design, designers are looking to integrate natural ventilation and ...