Monday
the first thing that happened was assign the groups. our groups had two students form Chichester collage and one student that came form hasilwick school and three AT students from Brighton University. the task was to make an eco friendly portable cabin home that ran of the grid.
what the group did yesterday was look at what was the most suitable/ user friendly type of portable house that fitted with the description in the brief, which stated that it had to be portable but last a minimum of ten years. we had a lecture who talked to us about container boxes, his name was John Smith. after what we heard form the lecture the group decided on the container box. the purpose that the group chose to use the container box was because they are sturdy and are built to take punishment as they are used for shipping thing around the world. adding to this the group also took in account how much a container cost. what the group found out was that they didn’t cost as mush as other materials. Containers veryred between 1500 and 800 pounds depending on where they from. Moreover they have a special metal that coats the outside of the container which gradually rusts. this rust helps protect the container on the long term. it also eliminated how we where going to build the eco cabin as a container is already pre built. we decided to use a 20 foot container to be the eco cabin. Reasons was that it could only take up about 10 meters of space for just for one cabin. and 20 foot container is about 6.1 meters long which made it more ideal for our cause.
the group went in and had a look at designs that where currently being used on container homes from around the world. by looking at these ideas the group came up with ideas that could work well for the eco cabin / home. however one of the members pointed out that the cabin had to be suitable for people with disablitys (people in wheel chairs mainly). so the everyone went and had a look at how homes where made user friendly for people with disabiltys. they where things such as height of the kitchen tables and cookers.
energy and water supply to the eco cabin was the next stage that the group looked in to. it was decided that the eco cabin was going to use solar panels to generate its energy, but we also looked at heating water solar panels so that the eco cabin would have a supply of hot water running though it. tanks are fitted at the bottom of the cabin one for waste water and one for clean fresh drinking water. they where fitted at the bottom of the cabin this was because firstly they are out sight form the occupants, secondly it reduces the chances of bacteria from growing if the sun contentiously on it. and mainly it is easier to access the tanks if they are at the bottom of the eco cabin.
figure 1 on the left, here are sketch that show the group putting there ideas together. figure 2 on the right shows the final design that would eventually be built as the module.
Tuesday
the AT group from the university went to work on how the house would function these where things such as where the bed, kitchen etc would go and fit. we also started to do drawings scaled down to the size of 1:50 this proved to be very difficult because of the space in the container was so limited. we had to try many times before things started to fit in place that would work. we got most of our insprations form looking at caravans for they have to work with limited space. but we also looked at other containers homes that use the same size container as us. so to save space we decided to have the waste tank stored under the container and the rainwater tank. we also stared to look at prices for materials that where going to be placed in the container. the student from Chichester collage went and started the models main frame which was the containers main frame. the groups main aim was to make the container user friendly, easy to assemble.
figure 3, here are some concept designs for the Eco cabin layout, we found it extremely hard to make everything fit but also being able to minimize obstructions as much as possible. because it had to be user friendly for people that are in wheel chairs.
figure 4, here is a concept design that would eventually be our actual design.
figure 5. here was on of the interiors we looked at that came form a caravan.
Wednesday
the University of Brighton students went to Chichester collage to see the how the module was progressing. by going to Chichester collage the group could see how the furniture was going to fit in to the building. the module was 1 meter long and half a meter wide. and was made out of timber. as one member worked with one of the Chichester students to try and complete the module. me and a halilwick student went and completed the cost for the accessories that where going to be in the building. the cost had to be under 7000 pounds. the most expensive times where the container itself which came out to be 800 pounds and also the insulation which came to around to about 1000 pounds. but after 7 hours of researching we managed to find materials and items that come out to be 6089 pounds left which was around 1000 pounds.once the cost was figured out the me and the haliwick student went to see how the module was progressing
Figure 6, here is a picture of the group discussing what to and how to come about them.
figure 7, here is a picture of one of out collages Charlie standing next to the module. this was the replica of the container.
Figure 8, here are some timber beams these would become part of the base of the house that would elevate it of the ground. the idea to elevate it of the ground was so that the waste tank and rain water tanks could sit underneath it.
figure 9, from the picture above in figure, 5 shows what the other timber was used for. and that was to make the roof supports for the opening and closing rear roof.
figure 10, this was material that was going to clad the outside of the eco cabin. it is called Neo Wood, and is made out of recycled plastic. we chose it because it is very durable. and quite cost friendly. Our college charile found us this material for us.
figure 11, here is the side panel with pencil markings on it. they represent the front door and the windows. that would eventually get cut out.
Thursday
we where back at Brighton. while the Chicester collage students worked on the module trying to complete it for Friday. what the university of Brighton students did was complete the drawings for the presentation for the next day. we where also finalizing the we where most concerned in how much we had used considering that we new that it would not surpass 7000 pounds. regardless we double checked to make sure that everything all added up to what we had
Figure 12, here is the finals concept drawing of the Eco cabin house. the rood and the porch cover where tilted so that we could collect rain water, but also it befitted the solar panels as well as solar panels are more effective at a tilt.
figure 13, here is the final plan view/ layout of he Eco cabin
figure 14, here are side elevations of the Eco cabin on the right. on the left there are detailed drawing of the sliding porch that sits underneath eh Eco cabin
Friday
On Friday we had to present our modules and our research work to the other groups and our lecturers. the Haysilwick student came down to Brighton university and also the Chicester collage students. the students form chichester brought down with them the models to Brighton university that where finished. before presenting our work we did some final touch up to modules such as adding on the solar panels to to the roof of the building.
figure,15,16,17,18. here are pictures of the completed module of the Eco cabin that the chichester collage student built. we had to modify it a little though, these where things such as the tracing paper that was supposed to represent tarpaulin. and we had to print out solar panels so that we could stick them onto the roof.
figure 19, here was the final presentation sheet that we used to present our work to everyone. everyone did something on the sheet but it was Laura who assembled it all together for us.
By Aidan Crowder