The Berrinba Wetlands Park opened in Logan City in 2008.  It covers 80 ha and features 7 km of concrete pathways shared by walkers and cyclists.  It was constructed around an old borrow pit in Scrubby Creek, Berrinba.   James Pierce & Associates was involved in the feasibility and detailed design of boardwalks, viewing platforms and bridges.

The bridges can carry maintenance vehicles and are galvanized steel construction with timber decking. Four bridges will be inundated during floods and were designed as through girders to maximize the flow beneath.  Even so the flood forces are considerable and the railings are designed to shed debris to minimize both the lateral loads on the bridges and the water level increase upstream   The fifth bridge is cable-stayed construction located above the expected flood.

Berrinba Wetlands Credits

Located next to a running creek and exquisitely detailed by Bloc Architects, this tiny timber building has minimal environmental impact. Designed as the builder’s own residence, it is all timber framed and features a Low Profile Floor (stress skin action). This reduces member sizes and wall height to enable less cladding to be used. This technique facilitates prefabrication as well.

Unconventionally, the ceiling is group parallel to the roof via purlins as can be seen in this side view. This arrangement directs the eye to the tall end glazing wall (left end) facing the creek.

Brookfield Residence Credits

Outdoor Structures Australia needed an office to service their expanding enterprise. It was to be the front office to a future warehouse for storing components awaiting manufacture into OSA’s extensive range of landscape and park products.

The design brief required the use of milled timber that was surplus to requirements as well as being a display of OSA’s products. The variety, sizes and lengths certainly provided a challenge.

The louvre windows are secured and screened by continuing some of the cladding over them and a traditional mill roof-lantern provides natural light and controllable ventilation.

As is common on industrial sites, security can be a challenge. Rather than adopting common steel grills for the task, solid sliding timber shutters were used to protect the nicely detailed doors.

Timber mills are almost always in a state of change so the development of formal internal roads with kerb and channel is not a priority. One of OSA’s main product lines is a huge range of timber bollards for controlling vehicle access. Protection of this building at the only vulnerable side is afforded by heavy duty bollards fixed to unobtrusive steel base plates and bolted to the concrete.

The entry deck is a ‘Deckwood’ deck on a concrete slab.

The basic frame is ‘post and beam’ constructed entirely of unseasoned hardwood. Like the bollards, posts are on moment base plates and feature a relieving cut mid face to control shrinkage. The ‘beams’ are Queen Post trusses with simple steel rods as lower chords. Upper chords are twin roof beams that allow large cantilevers particularly to the west.

The concrete floor has pigment added to the mix. The colour was selected to give reflection and melds with the surrounding soil and sawdust so that debris tracked in on safety boots does no damage and is not too obvious as, after all, it is an industrial site.

The building envelope is fibre cement sheet with a ‘Deckwood like’ cladding well spaced in a technique similar to some modern Scandinavian buildings. It provides sun shielding and security.

Part of the roof framing cantilevers past the roof sheeting on the north and western sides. Here it is covered with randomly spaced battens providing a sun screen.

OSA Office Credits

Buildings Adaption Credits

James Russell Architect was awarded the 'Brisbane House of the Year' for his design of this residence at Fig Tree pocket in the RAIA’s Queensland Regional Awards in 2007. The building is clad in a wide pallette of materials including clay brick, fibre cement, hardwood chamferboard and a knitted shade cloth.

The brickwork was challenging with cantllevers and articulation on a reactive site. Sliding screen doors two stories tall give a wonderful visual and physical access to the well landscaped site that cascades into an adjacent park and watercourse.

The transition from the entertaining area inside to outside is almost seamless. Bespoke precast concrete seats become a sculptural feature of the two main garden areas.

South facing boundary wall is FC sheet cladding with a knitted ‘shade cloth’ skin spaced over. Wall framing is treated pine spaced to suit the cladding module.

The master bedroom and ensuite opens up to the ‘secret garden’ - a fully hedged enclosure. The preferred option of a high brick enclosure to the garden was not cost effective due to the wall height and nature of the existing ground.

The street view shows only a hint of the basement carpark beyond the ‘meadow’. Clay brickwork in this project included veneer, cavity and solid with due attention given to articulation as well as cantilevering of brick ‘fins’.

The separation between pool and inside the house (left) is achieved by open welded steel frames two stories high that are sheathed in ‘crim-safe’. Turnbuckled X bracing was used here as the open mezzanine construction restricted bracing options.

The huge ‘crim-safe’ sliding screen doors open to the ‘games lawn’ (right of garage).

LVL was used for bearers and joists throughout the construction. It was treated to prevent termite attack. Plywood flooring was used as both a construction platform and as a base for floor coverings. The plywood also achieved a stiffer floor system that is often is expected in Architect designed homes.

Fig Tree Pocket Credits