First of all the Seven Stars refers to the energy efficiency rating that has been calculated for this house design. I am quite proud of this rating achievement and that this was achieved without the detailed energy saving touches that I plan for later in the build.
I had planned this house to be a low cost, low energy, and owner buildable project.
So, I holidayed in Bali, to study their Architecture. It was instructional for me to observe the way that the Balinese used the thermal mass of concrete together with the cooling power of water in contact with the concrete slab. I have also read some books on the subject of Green architecture and Green from the Ground by Johnston and Gibson is one I recommend, although it is written for Northern American winters and not Brisbane summers. I have used quite a lot of concrete in the floor slab and the upstairs floor is Hebel aerated concrete floor panels and this choice contributes to achieving the 7 star energy rating.
The steel frame design shown here is my adaptation of the Duragal Framing system. I had chosen to eliminate the screw height adjustment as I used a laser plane to measure the concrete floor levels at the post positions and the height adjustments necessary for each post. As a result of choosing a steel fabricator that has difficulties using a tape measure I still had to place steel packers on the majority of the posts.
The steel posts even at 3.4 meter heights are easy to manage and I can place the posts on the prepared chemset anchor studs by myself. The Bearers are quite heavy but with an extention piece I fabricated for a car engine hoist it was relatively easy to lift and place the bearers. The steel joists are relatively light and I was lucky to have a particularly tall friend around to lift one end over the bearers whilst I slid the joists into position.
All the steel for the downstairs framework is now in place and ready to be welded. There's light rain here in Brisbane today so the welding will have to wait for another day. Once the welding is completed and the steel is painted I can lay the Hebel floor panels. I have uploaded my photos to flickr and tried to attach the link below, but no images are showing up on my computer when I hit preview but I'll hit submit and see what happens,
Cheers
Now edited with URL tab rather than img tab for photo attachment
https://www.flickr.com/photos/133450894@N04/17303167063/in/album-72157653200787445/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/133450894@N04/17303167063/in/album-72157653200787445/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/133450894@N04/17303167063/in/album-72157653200787445/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/133450894@N04/17303167063/in/album-72157653200787445/