NOTE: Please click on any of the thumbnails below to see all the photos for each month then click on any individual photo to see a larger version.
Form Follows Function
As you browse through these photos, please bear in mind that it is not the ‘look’ of the Greeny Flat that is important but the ‘way it works’. We chose to use galvanised cladding on the exterior because it doesn’t hold heat and doesn’t require painting and we chose to use plywood on the exterior walls because it allows the whole building to be taken apart and repurposed at the end of its useful life. But these were personal choices and you could reach the same small, comfortable, healthy, energy positive, low-maintenance, fire-resistant, water-efficient, elderly-friendly goals with different materials and a very different look both inside and outside. Click here for a more detailed discussion of how we chose our materials.
NOVEMBER 2013: excavation, building retaining walls and pouring slabs
DECEMBER 2013: installing the wall frames, roof, windows, and thermal break
JANUARY 2014: finishing the exterior cladding, installing the rainwater tank, and paving.
FEBRUARY 2014: finishing the exterior cladding and beginning the interior fit out.
MARCH 2014: interior fitout, kitchen, surface-mounted electrical system, etc
APRIL 2014: preparing for move in and start of the first year of monitoring the experiment.
AUGUST 2014: Finished exterior photos as used for this website’s header images.
DECEMBER 2014: photos of life in the Greeny Flat from August to December 2014
APRIL 2015: Party to celebrate the resounding success of our first year.
MAY 2015: Building a prototype solar air heater from an old solar hot water system
MAY 2015: An evening at the Tesla showroom in Chatswood, (Sydney).
JUNE 2015: Visit to The Keep – Permaculture and Self-sufficiency Project
July 2015: Snow at the Greeny Flat as we prepare to leave for a trip