Simon Coggins-Hill - OTG Challenge

[AstroMan287]

This is the first CGI challenge/competition ever entered …so here goes!

To kick off I enclose two concept boards to illustrate the route I see my entry taking.

Concept Board 1 -Environmental Concepts:
I see the dwelling being located in a mountainous/hilly area surrounded by natural forest, green valleys and natural water sources.
The dwelling itself will be of traditional materials sympathetic to its surrounding environment so the use of sustainable materials such as wood & natural stone will dominate.

Concept Board 2 - Renewable Energy Concepts in Context.
Heat pumps and geothermal though used in practice will not feature in the model as they will be “invisible” externally however photovoltaics, wind and water turbines will be implemented but to what extent and how is not decided at this point.

The tree shaped solar array and the solar powered tent images are included as they are an unusual and tantalising design concepts.


The next step is to modify the given model to bring it more in line with the PassivHaus (Passivhaus Institut ) and sustainable design concepts in general. The main changes will be to the building envelope as it needs to be much thicker & deeper to account for the high levels of insulation required.

I am looking forward to “reworking” the challenge model…let modelling commence. =)

[Russell L. Thomas]

Great organized entry so far, looking forward to seeing sum modeling and rendering of it!

[AubreyM]

Good luck with your first challenge!

[O'Neill]

Welcome, and we look forward to seeing more.

[AstroMan287]

Progress update 08.01.12

What with pre-Christmas workload and Christmas itself, progress is way behind schedule and am all the more mindful of the looming deadline!

However the house has been remodeled to be more in line with the Passivhaus concepts which have included the following:

> Large South facing windows.
> Smaller North facing openings
> Thicker walls, floors and roof to allow for high levels of insulation
> Lower floor level reworked to include plant rooms for Renewables.
> Concrete structures replaced and/or clad with natural stone.

The stepped access to the front and rear of the dwelling have been reworked to suit the mountain/ hillside location envisaged.

Renewable / "Green" Technologies to be adopted:

> Photovoltaics/solar collectors
> Geo-Thermal heat pumps (not visible in the render but implied by the plant rooms to lower floor)
> Small scale wind turbine
> Wood burning/pellet boiler + Heat Stores (not visible in the render but implied by the plant rooms to lower floor and chimney stack)
> Sedum / "green" roof
> Rainwater harvesting (implied by the rainwater gutters/downpipes from roof areas)

I enclose the following progress sheets to show progress and development:

1> Sheet showing earlier model development in mono
2> Sheet comparing original model with that of the modified version.
3> Sheet showing the model in context with the proposed environment and a “mock up” render.

Note: The base local terrain was “roughed out” in Sketch Up 8 Pro using “Artisan” by Dale Martens and "Instant Site Grader Pro" and "Instant Road Pro" by Vitali Architects and the “mock up” render produced in Vue 8 Studio.

The photovoltaic arrays and wind turbine are to be modeled next with final texturing to follow very swiftly after that. The deadline looms…it is going to be tight (very tight) but doable…I hope! =)

[Rod]

Nice to have you back Simon. I like your selections for the green things.
You should spend a bit of time making the rounds to other competitors threads so you don't get caught by the rule that implies that interactions are important.
Good luck with your quest, your terrain looks very good at this point. Rock On!!

[AstroMan287]

Rod, thanks for the comments and yes, I do take your point about the "doing the rounds"...has been a concern of mine.
Not that I am not interested but along the lines of "too much to do and not enough time to do it all in"....which is no excuse I know. =)

[lyle_kyle]

very nice man man,,,keep up the good work, you still have 6 more days to go......still got time, with what you have showed so far you're almost there..

[AstroMan287]

Thanks very much for the encouragement!
...now if I could just slow time.

[glimps]

love the late progress of Yours. Just a Tip - don't put text fields in Your pic's 'cos it's no't so much vissible in downresed pictures =) apart from that..Cool environment You're building Here!