Saturday April 28 2018 / Sunday September 15 2019 / Sunday November 10 2019
Unlocked
Soon after the house was finished I invited Emagn Tas to host an Unlocked event. Emagn is the Emerging Architects & Graduates Network of Tasmania. The Unlocked series is an opportunity for young architects to visit projects to gain a better understanding of the industry. Some of the site visits are during construction and can be a valuable learning method. I previously hosted an Unlocked for Mullet House in West Hobart, including both the clients and the builder. I think it’s important to hear all sides of the story – not just from the architect.
Freshly baked: banana bread to start the Unlocked tour
Greg, the builder of 60k House, was good enough to give up his time on the weekend and come along to chat with the group. 19 people attended – including a couple of older clients who were keen to come and check out my house! Unlocked events are usually informal: walk around, explain design decisions, answer questions as you go. We started with banana loaf and concluded with a BBQ.
Sizzle: BBQ to finish Unlocked event
Sustainable House Day
Sustainable House Day is a national event with houses open all around the country. This year there were nine houses open in southern Tasmania, including 60k House. Apparently it’s quite a big deal in a major city being included as part of Sustainable House Day. Kulja, the editor of Sanctuary magazine, suggested opening as part of Sustainable House Day.
Inside: Visitors to Sustainable House Day
Supported by Renew, there were many resources made available to print and share – simple explanations of design principles such as Passive Solar Design and Thermal Mass. Visitors needed to register on the day – around 110 people attended. I didn’t have any volunteers, which made it difficult to sign people in, give them a tour, answer questions, all the while keeping an eye on more people turning up.
Registration: visitors were asked to sign in for Sustainable House Day
For a good cause: visitors to Sustainable House Day were asked for a gold coin donation for charity
There was an option to ask for a gold coin donation for charity so I used the opportunity to raise funds for the Great Cycle Challenge to help fight kids cancer – this raised $118.65.
Open House Hobart
I had offered to open the doors last year for Open House Hobart but this was politely rejected – “too far from Hobart” I was told. The house also wasn’t well known beyond this blog. What a difference a year makes! Since then the house has been published and featured in various media (I will look to add a Media tab to the blog). More importantly this year Open House Hobart included a ‘Sunday Drive’ – a string of houses located down the Channel, south of Hobart.
What it says on the sign: Open House Hobart (open garden further down the road)
Flowerpot was the furthest south (as it was for Sustainable House Day) but that didn’t stop the masses. There just so happened to be an open garden down the same road in Flowerpot – and there are only two houses down the road! The open garden required pre-booking – open house didn’t. I suspect some of the 220 visitors to come through open house during the day were turned away from the open garden, or saw a sign on the gate and decided to pop over for a sticky beak. This meant the visits were shorter and possibly less engaging than Sustainable House Day, but boy was I thankful for having a couple of volunteers help man the front door! Thank you to Anthony for the morning shift and Scott for the afternoon (apparently there was much admiration for the washing line). All up across the weekend there were over 20,500 visitors to Open House Hobart!
Bold: donation jar for Movember
A donation jar and poster promoting Movember was on the table inside but this wasn’t as obvious and visitors weren’t asked for a gold coin donation as they entered, so this only raised $15.
Filming
With my mum living in the house since May there’s a lot of effort (and anxiety) to make the house presentable each time it is opened to the public – for this I thank my mum wholeheartedly. The biggest preparations for any open day was so Hunting For George could come down to shoot a ‘Let Us In’ segment. This required a full day of cleaning and rearranging (read stuffing crap into the container) in order to get the place looking something like it did for the professional photos. The segment hasn’t been aired yet – will be sure to share the link when it goes live.
Focus: preparing for an action shot for ABC news
More recently I was interviewed by ABC news for a story about housing affordability. This didn’t require as much of a clean up but did involve some miming of action shots (I’m told it won’t look naff). Again I’ll share that story once it is aired. Keep an eye out on ABC during the first week of December.
Spotter: drone shooting for the ABC story
That’s it for open days – at least for as long as mum is living there. It’s a big ask to clean up, pack up and move out for the day while countless strangers traipse through the place. It was heartening to talk with a few followers of the blog who turned up to recent open days. This blog has been a great opportunity to show the process involved to design and build an economical and sustainable home. Only a few more posts to come, including a budget breakdown and time lapse.
Movember
Dad was the number one supporter of this blog, continually asking me when I would upload the next post. Since he died three years ago the motivation to post also passed. Dad never taught me how to shave – he had a beard all of my life. But he taught me many other things, including building skills and tricks that I’ve used throughout the project.
This month I am supporting Mens Health through Movember. Losing dad is my motivation to help others. Movember is tackling Prostate Cancer, Testicular Cancer, Mental Health & Suicide Prevention. If you’ve enjoyed reading the blog over the years and would like to support my fundraising efforts please follow the link below to make a tax deductible donation.
AKA: Mo grower and supporter
Disclaimer: Any advice contained within this blog is of a general nature only and cannot be relied upon. Details provided are in good faith and relate specifically to this project. Any author will not be held responsible for advice or information presented.