Bushfire Research & Articles Archives - Cox Architects

Steel in bushfires webinar

Cox Architects — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 06:30:29 +0000

The presenter David Cox is the Managing Director of Cox Architects, a Brisbane based firm which has experience in designing different types of fire-resistant buildings for many years. David’s interest in designing appropriate structures in bushfire areas began in the 1980’s when he carried out research work on mainly industrial and commercial buildings. Since then his focus has widened to include residential structures. Drawing on his local and overseas design experience, David is passionate about designing highly fire resistant structures to minimise the risk of failure.

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Bushfire resilient building design

Cox Architects — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 22:39:44 +0000

Australia is no stranger to bushfires. However, the summer of 2019-2020 proved to be unprecedented in many ways. By mid-February 2020, thousands of bushfires across the country had claimed the lives of over 30 people and a billion animals, and burnt around 20 million hectares of land.

With approximately 3,000 homes and several thousand other buildings destroyed across the country, their rebuilding will inevitably require careful and considered bushfire design solutions, such as that developed by Cox Architects.

View the full article here (PDF).
Source: https://www.steel.org.au/resources/elibrary/resource-items/bushfire-resilient-building-design/
Photo credit: Jana Koelmel

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Bushfires – Assets and liabilities

Cox Architects — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 06:24:57 +0000

The recent bushfires extended from September last year until the end of March. We were therefore under attack for half a year. It exposed many weaknesses in our built environment and the stewardship of our natural resources. We were found exposed because of directionless development and the vulnerability of our built assets to both wildfires and bushfires.

Our continued practice of delivering buildings and infrastructure which are not suited to and resistant to our harsh environmental conditions is or could be deemed to be ‘not fit for purpose’.

For many years, our politicians and other leaders have focussed on seeing the physical effects of building ‘something’. Progress was evidenced by city skylines covered with cranes and half-built skyscrapers. On the urban fringe, progress was evidenced by covering vast tracts of land with the archetypal Australian built houses extending suburbia as far as the eye could see. But what if neither of these building forms are ‘fit for purpose’ or suitable for our harsh environment?

View the full article here (PDF).
Source: https://sourceable.net/bushfires-assets-and-liabilities/

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Bushfires – Take what is valuable

Cox Architects — Tue, 28 Jan 2020 23:57:42 +0000

The fire we were escaping from was the Applethorpe fire in Queensland which started on the 6th September 2019. We were some of the first groups to be evacuated in the 2019 fires. Since then many thousands of people in most states have been evacuated to escape the bush fires/wildfires currently spreading over Australia.

View the full article here.
Source: https://sourceable.net/bushfires-take-what-is-valuable/

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Bushfires – What’s in a name?

Cox Architects — Tue, 28 Jan 2020 07:22:40 +0000

One reason for Australia’s procrastination on the adoption of new technology to help prepare us for the effects of our harsh environment is because most believe nothing can be done to protect us from bush fires. The reality, however, is that this is simply not correct and doing nothing is a symptom Australia can ill afford at these times or in the future.

View the article here.
Source: https://sourceable.net/bushfires-whats-in-a-name/

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High Rise Fire Safety in Smart Urban Planning

Cox Architects — Wed, 20 Sep 2017 02:55:29 +0000

This fire evaculation case study discusses the after-effect and possible advances in high rise fire safety. Urban planners, lawmakers and architects should be constantly questioning the connection between building and nearby buildings, and can’t afford to underestimate the importance of adequate access for fire trucks and other emergency vehicles to navigate around buildings and provide egress solutions for firefighters, residents, visitors and staff alike.

View the article here.
Source: https://sourceable.net/can-smart-urban-planning-improve-the-fire-safety-of-high-rise-buildings/

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Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission

Cox Architects — Sat, 02 Sep 2017 05:15:42 +0000

Submission by Cox Architects to the “2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission”.

The following are parts of the above submission:

ABC Interview (mp3 format) of Cox Architects Director David Cox on the 5/3/2009.

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Trapped in a burning building

Cox Architects — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 06:24:52 +0000

The effects of being in this situation are considerable but if viewed objectively, it can teach us all many things including what not to do. This article tries to explain to the reader what it is like to be trapped in a burning building and it parallels this experience with principals of behavioural studies.

There are many building design issues which caused failure in this case. These issues, however, require more in-depth discussion to fully explain. What this article tries to convey is what a person in such a situation thinks and acts. That alone serves as a very good foundation to safety awareness hopefully resulting in better design. It also serves to remind us that learning from the mistakes of others is a very hard way to learn.

View the article here.
Source: https://sourceable.net/whats-it-like-to-be-trapped-in-a-burning-building/

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Bush Fire Architecture

Cox Architects — Thu, 08 Jun 2017 08:11:37 +0000

For many years, the majority of Australians have been comforted by the thought that the prevalence of bush fires doesn’t concern those living in urban areas. Whilst there might be empathy for our ‘country cousins’, many don’t consider these fires to be a direct threat.

So is this assumption correct or just a misguided myth? A look at recent events and data sheds light on the issue.

Cox looks at a range of recent academic papers on the subject in trying to piece together an overview of the risks of these fire events to urban areas. The results are quite surprising.

Cox also includes his experiences from visiting the lethal bush fires first hand in Western Australia in Feb. 2016 and how these events support the premises put forward in the article.

This research, together with the extensive research already undertaken by the firm Cox Architects, gives a valuable and condensed insight into what is becoming a ‘sleeper’ of a problem for Australia and the USA in particular.

View the article here.
Source: https://sourceable.net/do-bush-fires-only-occur-in-the-bush/

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Cox Architects® Fire Shutters Pass Rigorous Compliance Testing

Cox Architects — Tue, 17 Jan 2017 06:30:29 +0000

Over the past year, the fire resistance standards of our Fire Shutters, designed by Cox Architects®, has been evaluated for compliance with Australian Bush Fire standards. This process has now been completed and the fire shutters passed the testing requirements and now are suitable for use throughout Australia.

Our Fire Shutters are one part of the series of innovations which evolved as a result of Cox Architects® research project into Bush Fire Resistance Construction which started over 10 years ago.

This research was awarded many times both in Australia and internationally and also was a winner in the innovation excellence award in Queensland in 2011.

Our Fire Shutters incorporate several patented pieces of technology in order to provide a complete building envelope that could withstand the most severe bush fires in Australia and possibly on planet earth.

Excerpt from specifier.com.au published 17 January 2017 View the article here.

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