Carter Williamson was involved in the tutoring and judging of sustainable house designs and models produced by students at Burwood Girls High School as part of a STEM program. This relationship led to the installation of an Educational Model of GRID, Carter Williamson's pre-fabricated sustainable housing solution, in the school to deepen the students' understanding of what it means to be sustainable.

GRID will be referred to as ‘Sustainable House’.

In a world increasingly challenged by man-made and natural disasters, GRID was initially developed as a sustainable housing prototype, which can be assembled quickly and transported cheaply and easily to diverse and remote locations. This same methodology has been applied here in an education setting where quick and efficient construction reduces the impact on students and school grounds.

GRID is not a shipping container, or refrigeration panels. It has material and spatial quality that separate it from other prefabricated buildings on the school grounds. Above all else GRID is joy. The aim of this project is to inspire the students, encourage them to think more sustainably, and lead to a demand for better pre-fabricated classrooms.

GRID Sustainable House was installed one Saturday morning, and will be formally opened by the school with a special event where the school's string quartet will play. Sustainable House will be used as part of the STEM program to engage the students in sustainability, and challenge the typical notion of home, as well as a classroom. GRID offers a tangible 1:1 model, which the students can engage with to supplement current sustainability principles taught in the curriculum.

About the Awards

The Sustainability Awards is Australia’s longest running and most prestigious awards program dedicated to acknowledging and celebrating excellence in sustainable design and architecture. Nominations received are shortlisted and then winners for each category are announced at a five-star Gala evening hosted this year at the Star, Sydney on 11 October 2018. The daytime event Sustainability Live is a CPD-endorsed education event where industry experts present a range of topics to educate, inform and ignite learning.

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