Zoe Ross

Lighthouse

This project aims to design a branch for Ambulance Victoria that is both socially and environmentally sustainable and achieves a net-zero carbon standard. This proposal prioritizes in its design passive solar principles, biophilia, and paramedic wellbeing given a semi-nocturnal lifestyle with the inclusion of a greenhouse system. The greenhouses provide thermal regulation benefits while also introducing views of greenery and daylight conditions into the building at night.

The greenhouses are a buffer to the outside temperature with all external doors opening into one, working as an airlock system to help reduce loss of heat or cooling. They are made of lightweight ETFE inflated cushions with performance ratings surpassing triple pane glass. In winter, the greenhouses gain heat from their orientation and store this heat in thermal mass, composed of both a concrete slab and a feature “water wall.” In summer, the greenhouses act as thermal chimneys as high and low windows ventilate the space, continually replacing the escaping heated air.

In the living and training rooms, views of greenery with simulated daylight through the greenhouses contrast the limited views from the windows at night. Paramedics who often work at night would otherwise miss out on views of nature. Those returning to the branch pass through a metaphoric “front yard” on the way to the domestic portion of the building, such that they experience entering the branch through the front entrance rather than through a back door off the garage. The semi-transparent layering of ETFE creates connection with the street while maintaining privacy and minimizing distraction. This “drive-by engagement” gives locals a brief insight into the goings-on at the branch. In addition to achieving the net zero carbon goal, the hope for this building is that it will serve as a beacon of wellness and care, both to the paramedics who inhabit it and to the greater community.