BUSHFIRE PROOF HOMES
www.bushfireproofhomes.com
www.bushfireproofhouse.com
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PLANNING UPDATE: We have good news, we have received a letter from the Department of the Attorney-General of Australia Dr Carolyn Patteson A/g First Assistant Secretary National Security Resilience Policy Division, on behalf of the Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, wishing us well and detailing the building, safety and planning laws for the Bushfire Proof House construction.

These are new laws and cover all of Australia with local laws expected to lift local standards where necessary to meet the National Standards. I have also received a letter from the Victorian State Bushfire Response Minister Peter Ryan confirming the governments committment to meet those standards.

More good news Australia's national science agency the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, CSIRO www.csiro.au have offered some help, with thanks to Justin Leonard Team Leader, Bushfire Urban Design. CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship. CSIRO Ecosystems Sciences.

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COMPANY UPDATE: We are currently setting up a company to build the Bushfire Proof House as a display/research building then construct bushfire proof homes to order. Updates will be posted here.

The company will operate internationally featuring bushfire proof and underground design, and have specialist partners in concrete, excavation and home design/fitout.

The design ranges include private homes, cluster housing, retirement cluster housing, small commercial projects and public works such as Fire refuges catering for 50 - 5000 people.

Investor and Builder inquiries: Garry Shepherd - gs@globalshuffle.com

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Update 6 May 2012
Disturbing News that AL-QAEDA has named Australia as a prime target for terrorism by firebombing in an online terrorism and bomb-making magazine.

The article in Inspire magazine, titled ''It is of your freedom to ignite a firebomb'', gives a step-by-step guide to building an ''ember bomb'', which it advocates as the best way to start destructive fires, and details the best times of the year to start fires in different parts of Australia.

''These fires ruined the dry before the green, exhausted lives and properties, wiped out a lot of farms and houses, destroyed thousands of trees that are used in manufacturing and created an atmosphere of terror and panic.''

Fortunetly, the bushfire proof house design anticipates civil unrest and terror strikes - It is also bullet proof, capable of withstanding sustained small weapons fire and surviving chemical weapons strikes. The slab roof, double concrete walled shell with rolling concrete blast shields over windows and doors and ground slab floor, can all be reinforced to withstand the level of threat such as large falling trees and terrorist made bombs at close range.

The above ground structure is designed as a crumple zone to absorb such impacts and protect the inhabitants in the lower ground levels. There is air for all occupants for 5 days isolated from toxic outdoor air, and can be off the public utilities eletricity and water grid for a minimum of 6 months should surrounding infrastructure be destroyed and rebuilding takes more time.

The below surface area can accomodate both domestic residence and small business activity. So should there be an emergency, day to day domestic life and small business equipment, archives and other financial income necessary equipment can continue with little disruption.

UPDATE 13 September 2012
ANTI-TERRORIST RAIDS: The Australian anti-terror Police have jus raided 12 addresses, most within 10 minutes drive of my home and the targeted forests for ember bombs

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/guns-seized-in-terror-raids-20120912-25ser.html

A search warrant for the Al-Furqan centre says police were looking for material relating to 11 people between the ages of 22 and 40, and information connected to 12 addresses. They were in Narre Warren, Springvale South, Narre Warren South, Officer, Craigieburn, Hallam, Ormond, Endeavour Hills and Noble Park. Most of the properties were raided in the operation, which began early yesterday.

The warrant also says police are looking for copies of the infamous al-Qaeda-produced magazine Inspire, which reportedly nominated Sydney as a potential terror target earlier this year. The warrant says the material police are searching for is either connected with terrorist acts or the collecting and making of documents that are ''likely to facilitate terrorist acts''.

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GLOBAL SHUFFLE STUDIOS
www.globalshufflestudios.com

Welcome to Global Shuffle Studios design section.

We're rebuilding the current Global Shuffle studios which have been storm damaged in Melbourne Australia's Dandenong Ranges (hills) area.

Tourism, Accomodation, Info links for The Dandenong Ranges - Visit Make Believe.
http://www.experiencethedandenongs.com.au/
http://www.visitvictoria.com/Regions/Yarra-Valley-and-Dandenong-Ranges/Destinations/Dandenong-Ranges.aspx

The movie Global Shuffle 1 was completed under very trying circumstances experiencing electric shocks from hail damaged wirings and rotting floor boards.

I've spent the past 20 years living and working in the Melbourne CBD, which is concrete everywhere, and pretty safe from storms and bushfires.

So the new Global Shuffle Studio's will be made from steel re-inforced prefabricated concrete and be underground with it's own air supply for 5 days in cases of emergencies, bushfire, chemical fire plumes, severe storms 120-150 k wind gusts and falling 20 mt trees. It is designed to be off the public utilities grid for water and electricity for a minimum of 6 months while public infrastructure is rebuilt after an emergency.

The underground area has filtered air and a constant 18-22C temperature which is ideal for archival purposes. I have many reference books some nearly 200 years old, video and audio tapes 40+years old and 1000's of photographic negatives, slides (transperancies) and electrical equipment, camera's etc etc. Plus my own art works on paper, sketches drafts etc.

Damp Dust and light the main enemy for preservation, an underground concrete vault controls those very well.

The studio is part of the Bushfire Proof House design concept www.bushfireproofhouse.com which includes both residential and business area.

With many businesses operating online, there is a growing need for business quality facilities at home. Such as office area and equipment, somewhere to occasionally meet clients, secure storage areas for files and accounting, parking space for their business vehicle/s and client parking.

Plus there is the need to function as a normal domestic home without the intrusion of work, at all times.

This design addresses all those needs.

I'll be updating and discussing various aspect of the project in this thread.

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This thread is locked but you may ask questions and make comments in the Global Shuffle Studios chat thread. http://mso1.cultureforum.net/t1493-global-shuffle-studios-chat-thread

Bushfire Proof House Design Concept
Here are the Bushfire Proof House design concept elements. I'll be applying the design principles to the new Global Shuffle Studios

* Bushfire, Storm and Hail protection
* Protection exceeds BAL-FZ (Level 6) Ratings in Ash Wednesday flame zone
* Costs approx the same as timber and brick houses
* Constructed with industrial grade steel reinforced prefabricated concrete with a double walled shell and concrete partitions.
* The use of concrete as the frame material instead of timber, saves forests which improves our air quality and increases wildlife populations.
* Includes concrete underground living space and garage
* Double glazed windows with sliding concrete blast shields in shell cavity.
* Concrete ‘Slab’ Ceiling reinforced to withstand falls from 4 x 20m gum trees in one storm
*Internal fire sprinkler system with town and back up own water.
* Underground levels act as emergency storm shelters and air-banks. Functional with or without power.
* 5 days air for 8 adults. Air isolated from outside and internally filtered.
* Reduced environmental impact on surrounding bushland due to less above ground usage.
* 50 years serviceable lifespan, little to no need for house insurance against bushfires, storms, falling trees/branches, hail damage.
* Conforms with new disability access laws. Includes underground car park with direct undercover wheelchair access to units and domestic lifts to all levels.
* Design includes ‘Clean Air’ breathing zone for asthma and hay fever sufferers on bad air quality days, high pollen count, fire burn offs, general airborne pollution etc.
* All furnishings, paint and floor coverings made from asthma and allergy resistant materials
* General design of concrete reduces incident of bugs, lice, dust, mould etc associated with timber framed dwellings.

The Bushfire Proof House design has a reduced above ground area presence and a larger underground area.

The reduced above ground presence reduces the house's exposure to storm and fire.
These are sample images for 2 units. The principle can be expanded according to space and need.

This design concept is particularly useful where above ground space is limited or it is desirable to minimise above ground structures for aesthetic or safety reasons

In cases of emergency such as a bushfire, the above ground area is not expected to be used as a safe haven. It is the below surface area surrounded by earth, rock etc that is the safe place, with internally filtered isolated air for 5 days

The above ground structures act as a sheltered entry foyer and transition zone to the underground clean air zones. While the above ground structures are expected to withstand a number of fires in structural integrity, the above ground acts as a damage zone, taking the impact of fire, embers, falling trees and branches etc

The objective is to be positively safe, and being below ground out of the fires path and protected from heat and toxic smoke for days after the fire front has past, I believe would be safer than trying to evacuate in an emergency by car.

Not just safer for humans and pets, safer for personal belongings, family archives and business. For small business such as myself, it means my lifes work is safe, and I can continue to provide for my family without the destruction of my business as well in an emergency. Which is what happened to me in this same spot in the Ash Wednesday 1983 fires.

So I expect to live longer simply by the reduction in stress from peace of mind, if not an emergency.





3D Design app www.myvirtualhome.com

Here's some first drafts of the Global Shuffle Studios.

Mostly the studios are just empty open spaces of various sizes.

The space is used by whatever project is in it, such as movie sets for internal room shots, blue/green screen studios for chroma keying, photographic shoots, sculpture, general art, costume fabric construction, production offices, edit suites, soundtrack audio, voice-over, music recording etc. Projects can be from a few hours to months and longer such as the Global Shuffle movie productions over 2 years which will typically have short bursts of production activity and 18 months in pre and post production offices and edit suites.

I'm just using minimal lighting at the moment. I kinda like the cartoony outline feel of the rendering too.

Normally we use town power. This will be the battery back up system in an emergency. We have 3 phase/240 volt bio fuel generators to drive the lifts and provide emergency power.

There'll be a fail-safe default system including further back ups going down to candles, oil lamps and firewood operated stoves and water heaters. The bio-fuel generators can run on peanut oil if necessary.

The air ducting system will have small wind turbines feeding power into the building grid 24 hours a day. All doors have a similar hand operated micro generators which feed into the power grid when a door is opened or closed. The lifts have the same for doors and lift movement.

The objective is to be self contained and self sufficient, off the public utilities grid for a minimum 6 months after any bushfire or hail storm etc damage which shuts down electricity, gas and water system infrastructure over a large area causing mass delays in rebuilding.

These backup systems are in constant daily use or in an at-the-ready state as a normal element of the design and service schedules.

Generally lighting is hired in for the production and the 3 Phase Generators power them.

The ceilings don't have the cross beams shown, and there will be support arches on the poles in the high roof studios 6 mt roof, and wide spans for the 3 mtr ceiling.

We are aiming for a 5 day isolation period from the outside atmosphere, which maybe hazardous for days after a fire, with toxic chemicals from house furniture mixed with smoke and dust. The high ceilings act as air vaults. They guarantee that at all times there will be ample air at the ready. The building has a passive convective air supply system drawn directly from the surface, with power generated fans for high use times.

A system of central light wells provide a natural daylight light supply over emergency assembly areas, such as the cafe and foyer below. The full light modelling hasn't been completed to the surface yet so the light from the well hasn't been included in these drafts. We'll be updating.

So basically with no power, you can still breathe and have light from top to bottom. The light wells use the new concrete with glass filiments embedded in them so that light can shine through concrete. The different air zones can be isolated like bulkheads in a ship, to reduce cross contamination

There are 4 underground levels numbering from the bottom as 1. Global Shuffle Studios take up Levels 1+2 and part of 3 for reception (not shown) Levels 3+4 and ground are residential. 2 x 2br apartments and 1 x 4br Family Home, 1 x 2br Guest House. Above ground have flat roof top gardens on 4 seperate entries around a central garden. The 10 bedrooms all have ensuite and sitting room. They can be reconfigured according to the changing family needs over generations as 10 seperate apartments. This configuration will cater for 4 generations at one time.

The studio is NOT open to the public, it is a secure and private facility, but will have open days or by appointment. Studios will be availible for hire when availible outside of Global Shuffle schedules. There will be an education unit for local schools to have access to facilities and various internships and researcher access. The residential section is Private and not accessable from the common areas of the studios.

The studio is built as part of a design prototype display. So clients can see and experience functioning examples of what is achievable in underground and concrete construction.

The studio has a Robot lab, for making my Fine Art Robots, with isolated build area and test roam field, The Fine Art Robots need to function in human scaled environments so the common areas will have free range robots from time to time, to test their navigation skills and AI programing. There will be set routines for testing, such as navigating doors, stairs, using the lifts and interacting with the activity of humans, all in real time.

The site north is to the left. Studio, Cafe and passage way floors are polished concrete. Cinema, offices carpet. Level 2 Audio Recording Studio, carpet and wooden floor isolation room.

Level 2


Level 1



Level 1 Foyer. The 3 production offices to the right have workstation networks direct to the Reference Cinema projection room and remote control from inside the cinema. Graphics, modelling, compositing, animation etc can be worked on in the office area and preveiwed in the cinema for realtime big screen modifications. Typically artists will bring their own computers and storage drives, and just patch into the LAN network. PC/Windows is the default house system. The Fine Art Robots use Microsoft Robot platforms.




Level 1 Reference Cinema. The seating will be stepped down, but isn't shown



Level 1 Passage way to Main Studio



Level 1 Main Studio 6 mtr Ceiling



Level 2 Cafe/Work Break Area Void has light well

Some more shots of the main studio, from the office and meeting rooms.

The tops of the columns aren't shown. They will be vaulted arches, with plenty of rigging points for lighting etc. We're hoping that we may be able to do away with the columns for a large vaulted ceiling so we can have clear open space at floor level ... but I'll wait for the engineers to advise us on that before getting too many bright ideas

Heat from the lighting is fed into the general building heat network.

ROBOT LAB
This is my robot lab area. Not all support columns shown yet.

The isolation rooms in the studios are for clay work (which smells) and build rooms to control dust getting on drying paint etc and controlling dust and dirt build mess getting into the open studio area. They all have a seperate industrial air filtering system. The exhaust air is cleaner going outside than the outside air. In times of emergency, the industrial air filtering system transforms into a general internal air filtering system which isolates the toxic smoke laden outside air from the clean inside air. There's clean fresh isolated air for 5 days minimum, in an emergency.

The mezzanine area has lots of archive shelves and the edit suite, and an audio lab with lots of synths, and old sound gear.



The edit suite patches directly to the Reference Cinema and production suites LAN.





Looking thru the lab to the robot roam field and service lift which goes straight to the loading bay in the car park above. It can hold a car.

Here's some updates on the main production studio - STUDIO 1
It has 6m ceilings.

Level 2 has the Directors Office, Reception and meeting room which overlooks the soundstage, backstage and backstage dock areas. To the far left is the Wardrobe and layout area.


Level 1 has the backstage office/entrance, dressing rooms, props/storage vault and workshop




This is the backstage build area. Sets can be built or assembled onsite and moved directly to the soundstage. The ceilings are identical height and have the same rigging points so sets can be built backstage with minimal fuss and adjustment. The double doorway will just be one height, the 3D program has limitations but is doing pretty good seeing as it's designed for modelling standard 3 bedroom suburban homes

I'm just finishing the TV studio modelling on level 3. The TV studio, Studio 2, is approx the same size as the Studio 1 backstage area, with a 6m ceiling, and directly above the studio backstage area. So there is common access to generators, loading bay and service ducts etc

There's a mezzanine control room level overlooking the studio, for live camera/vision switching and live broadcast facilities, broadband and satelite uplink etc.

The studio size is ideal for TV type sets, news sets, host, interview etc. It can be used for film work too, in conjunction with studio 1 production, or stand alone projects with less area demands.

There are studio offices next to Studio 2 which can act as active production offices for long term projects such as a series, closing down and remaining as secure storage in series breaks etc.

Production offices have their own password protected security vision which can be accessed 24/7 or when motion detectors trip an alarm for say a door opening.

There's 2 dance studios on level 3 with large wall sized mirrors. Level 3 also has the Global Shuffle studio's reception and gallery area.

I'll have some pics up soon.

RESIDENTIAL SECTION

The residential section is designed as 4br family home with 2 seperate 2br apartments. These apartments are primarily designed for aged care for family members, as an alternative to aged family members living their final years in a retirement village/home, seperated from their family.

The studio is a family business and means that even while 'at work', there will always be someone around 24/7 in cases of emergency for aged family members, as well as companionship etc.

So for instance I have a fractured spine and will spend my final years in a wheelchair.

For the most part I will function like any other able bodied person going about my studio work etc. But travel is dangerous for me, due to the risk of severing my spinal cord. So having other family members around means I still have my independance and can live alone or in a relationship in the apartment with ease knowing help is not far away if needed, rain or shine day or night.

For the main family dwelling, this means, for baby sitting or older school aged children, an adult will be around at all times, allowing the parents flexibility with work and general family management.

The building is designed to last a minium of 50 years, and change according to the changing family needs over generations. So a child could grow up in the main family home and move to an independant apartment as a young adult, start their own family there, stay or move out to their own family home for a few decades, knowing that there would always be an apartment with caring family members around in their old age. Where they too could be enjoying the company of their extended family, or have as much privacy as they want.

With seperate air systems, the typical cold and flu seasons with all the school yard bugs, could be contained. The other apartments would be on their own systems for their own air quality needs, asthma or allergy concerns etc or experiencing their own health issues.

Well this is encouraging news, all this underground living talk is fine but will anyone do it ? well yes and up market in a recession too ! That's confidence talking. Well done

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Lawyer and property developer Daniel Besen, son of billionaire retail magnate Marc Besen, is building a palatial home in Toorak expected to cost tens of millions of dollars.

Mr Besen, 46, a former director of the Melbourne International Arts Festival and the Heide Art Gallery, is constructing a Toorak property said to include a high-security private art gallery underground to hold his priceless collection, and a multi-level, climate-controlled basement garage as well as at least two above-ground levels. The Age understands that with the cutting-edge design by architects Wood Marsh,

read more + pics

http://theage.domain.com.au/real-estate-news/not-a-commercial-building-site--more-likely-melbournes-most-expensive-home-20121022-281o3.html

We've been doing some work on the off-grid power and heating system and we've decided to go for a worm-farm methane gas generation plant to suppliment the internal wind power and solar panels.

We'll have enough gas to operate a water distilling plant, to purify our rain water. After an emergency such as a fire the water catchment areas are heavily polluted with toxic ash from burnt plastic house furnishings, carpet painted walls etc. So the drinking water distilary provides a ready supply of purified water for drinking, washing etc.

Large studio productions typically hire in generators to cope with whatever lighting plan is required, so it looks like we'll have abundant self generated off-grid power for day-to-day use, and no need for sewerage connections, town electricty grid, town water or gas for heating, cooking hot water etc. etc.

So this is ideal for guaranteed utilities supply, typically required as a minimum for productions and gives an accurate pricing regime for production costs, with no nasty surprises with unannounced rate hikes in the utility rates as we experience now.

We're setting up the main Studio 1 movie work space with a typical 6 month+ production schedule in mind, where key staff will most likely move to the area with their family into a family sized home 5-10 mins from the studio, for much of the on-the-ground admin stuff that happens during the production. It can mean less disruption for the family by separation and that will generally reflect in a happier production.

There is an excellent range of accomodation from short to long stays near by from descreet hide-aways to family sized homes with local schools, shops, public transport and tourist activities.

Tourism, Accomodation, Info links for The Dandenong Ranges - Visit Make Believe.
http://www.experiencethedandenongs.com.au/
http://www.visitvictoria.com/Regions/Yarra-Valley-and-Dandenong-Ranges/Destinations/Dandenong-Ranges.aspx

We can insure total confidentially from set builds to final cut, without any product leaving the building, when necessary. Film investors and key personal can meet and inspect the project inhouse and veiw progress cuts in the inhouse reference cinema.

We will have a 3D print room, so we can make costume jewellery, props etc onsite from your computer files, and the items painted or finished onsite to order.

There is a direct drive-in secure underground carpark, with no veiw from outside or the street etc so high profile clients and personelle can be descreet while working at the studios.

Generally we're only interested in family friendly productions using the studios, the Global Shuffle movies are edgy but have strict no violence, no drug policies for a PG13+ audience.

We tend to shy away from any violence-as-entertainment type formats animated or live action. Martial Arts films are borderline and will be considered on an individual basis. We have no interest in alcohol/tobacco ads, no gambling products.

We are interested in innovative high energy, high action, adventure programing for teens up

To clarify the studio position on the violence area where we say martial arts are borderline, competition contact sports are not considered 'violent' unless of course there is unaurthorised violence in the sport.

So for a general rule, Jackie Chan martial arts movies are welcome It's more of a skills based action form, rather than just a splatter movie..