Key points
- Construction of rebuilds should employ innovations that address all natural hazards a property is or may be exposed to.
- A key aim is to ensure dwellings remain habitable after natural disaster events.
One House is a prototype created by Suncorp in collaboration with a research team comprising the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), James Cook University and Room 11 Architects.
The research team undertook ambitious work to design a house that is resilient to extreme events, including fire, cyclones and floods. The researchers collaborated to select materials and design principles that would enable a house to survive each of the 3 natural hazard events.
‘The aim of One House is to help build momentum around improving building resilience and to encourage homeowners, builders and institutions to view resilience as a vital consideration for homes today.’
The main objective of the One House design was to create a liveable house for people to return to after an extreme event so they are not left homeless. The team did this by minimising the damage to the house and contents so that only minor repairs were needed following an extreme event, rather than a complete rebuild. The intent was to save lives by giving people the confidence to leave their house undefended during an extreme event.
The research team chose resilient features that were comparative in cost to those of any standard architecturally designed home.
For more information, go to Suncorp – One House or CSIRO – One House to save many.