21/09/2021
NBAU Blog Takeover – Week 12

Monday – 06/09/21

The week started off particularly unusually – our camp and the building site looking very unrecognisable…it was an extremely foggy morning that had delayed our typical 8am starts (and caused one individual to wake up an hour late!). The morning involved moving many crates from the workshop/barn up to the site for the drainage, followed by some internal work.

We set out to finish all the remaining internal door reveals that were left from the previous week. The door reveals of the study and utility rooms were installed swiftly, until we hit a third time unlucky with the reveal between the master bedroom and ensuite. Our carelessness meant that we had assembled the reveal box incorrectly! The bolts had already been slotted through, but the bolts were unaligned, much to our dismay – and thus, began the un-bolting and redoing of the final door reveal…it felt like the coming of a full circle with the constant redoing of things.

On the flip side, the joist team was quickly (and accurately) measuring, cutting, and setting out the joists across the east elevation for the decking.

Daryl and Mark also came to help with the landscaping of the site, which carried on for the rest of the week.

Tuesday – 07/09/21

With a focus on the internals of the house, we set out to work on the kitchen fixings. It was a slow, long, and exhausting process of moving appliances into place and adjusting the legs to ensure they are level with the spirit level, but the result was extremely satisfying and rewarding (and may I say, very dirty due to us lying on the floor to adjust the legs)! The whole process lasted the rest of the day, with all the appliances set, including the island. The joists on the east elevation were also all complete!

Wednesday – 08/09/21

During the morning, there were the tasks of marking out the counter battens where the cladding would ultimately be fixed on. Once the south and west elevations were marked, we repeated this in the courtyard. Some courtyard decking panels were also fixed into place and some internal wall panels as well as some ceiling panels were insulated and fitted in. The joists for the north elevation also commenced.

Thursday – 09/09/21

Today marked a whole day of heavy downpour that thwarted our attempts to work outside. We had started the morning by marking out the cladding placements on the counter battens of the south and west elevation and the inner courtyard. Once the rain started creeping in, we shifted our attention to the utility room. Like the kitchen, we had to assemble some cabinets which were going to be installed in the utility, next to the washing machine that’ll be installed later. Again, this required lots of trial and error, but it was fun putting the wall cabinets up for the first time. The rain also forced a temporary delay on the north side joists – instead, focus was shifted to the loose door handles that had to be screwed and tightened (to secure them but also for security reasons). Tim and Dinesh also came to work on the plumbing and plant room.

Tonight, marking my last night here, we were blessed with a clear night sky that had contrasted with the torrential rain from earlier. We had the opportunity to bask in the marvel that were the countless stars that shone back at us. It truly was a memorable view to behold and capped off a great night of stargazing and thirteen weeks for me.

Friday – 10/09/21

Reaching the end of the week, Tim and Dinesh resumed work on the plant room after staying overnight. Morning was spent cutting joists and decking parts to length, followed by a final tidy-up of the house and workshop.

A note from Studio Bark

No Building As Usual is an ambitious student build project running for 10 weeks over the summer of 2021. The programme addresses the climate emergency, diversity in the built environment professions, and the need for cross-industry collaboration.

Many thanks to blog and NBAU project collaborator NMITE