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One of the most critical choices you make when planning the architecture of a new house is how to configure windows. This decision will have a great deal of influence over many aspects of the home – how difficult (and expensive) it is to build, how elegant it will look when completed and to what degree it will let in heat and light. There’s a lot to consider.

It’s also important to think about how the architectural products you choose will have an impact on the windows of the house you’re building. For example, if you use stainless steel rather than aluminum to build the windows’ framework, what effect will that have? These small design choices can make a bigger difference than you think.

Reconsidering your windows’ architecture

Windows can have a surprising amount of impact on how livable a home or office building becomes, especially when you consider the sort of architectural products you use to build them. For instance, according to Architecture AU, there’s been a recent trend of builders using more stainless steel for finishing windows.

This has had a noticeable effect. The steel has given the windows a strong, bold profile that makes them appear more sleek and seamless. The effect isn’t just aesthetic, either – windows adorned with sturdy material like steel make it easier for the building to be resistant to the elements and block out high-speed winds.

Optimising for heat and air flow

How much hot and cold air flows into a building is always important. This is a major factor determining the indoor temperature and air quality in the building, which in turn will dictate how much heating and/or air conditioning is needed. In effect, airflow is a major cost centre.

Windows can control the flow of light into a building.

Rappler noted that the structure of your windows will largely dictate airflow. If you have the right screening media to keep heat and wind under control, it will be easier to keep your costs to a minimum. There’s a cost-benefit analysis to be performed during the building process. How much should you spend on superior building materials?

Considering Locker Group’s line of products

If you decide to go all out and build good, sturdy windows that will keep your building fully protected, we have the right building materials at Locker Group to help make that happen. For example, our line of expanded metal products is great for protecting buildings from the harsh glare of the sun.

Whatever specific architectural challenges you’re facing, we are confident that we have the right materials – as well as the expertise – to handle them. Contact us today, and we can discuss all your building needs.

The population of Australia is constantly increasing. According to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there were 24.2 million people in the country as of September 2016, which was about 350,000 more than one year earlier. As a rule, Australia’s population has been steadily rising at a rate of about 1.5 per cent per year. And there’s no hiding from the truth – all those people are going to need places to live.

To be more specific, they need a diversity of places. Not everyone is rich and can afford a mansion; not everyone is poor and wants to live in a small, cramped place in a bad neighbourhood. Most people, in fact, are somewhere in the middle. This being the case, it’s important that the nation’s architects work to deliver housing solutions for a wide range of different people with varying tastes, preferences and price ranges in mind.

Making creative architecture choices will absolutely play a role in this effort.

Australia’s current lack of housing diversity

With the population increasing so quickly, the architectural sector is working to crank out livable housing as quickly as possible to accommodate everyone. Given the rise of new building strategies like industrial flooring, it’s now easier than ever to mass-produce houses and get them ready quickly. But according to recent findings in the Parliament of Australia, too many houses are all the same.

There’s a simple formula that’s being followed – a large house, four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a roomy three-car garage – the “McMansion” approach, as it’s known. Professor Terry Burke, from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, argued before Parliament that these domiciles won’t be the right fit for enough of the population for the current building model to be sustainable.

“Historically, I do not think we have really built suburbs as lacking in diversity as those we are building at the moment,” Mr Burke said.

This is especially a problem in affluent suburbs of major Australian cities – consider western Sydney, for example. In areas like this, there’s a lot of building, but not enough diversity among the housing projects currently being undertaken.

What can be done about the problem?

So how can this issue be fixed? What will move us toward a future in which families have a range of different housing options available? According to Architecture AU, a lot of it comes down to better planning early in the building process. Ken Maher, president of the Australian Institute of Architects, told the news outlet that real estate developers need to examine demographics carefully as they shape their business strategies.

Australian architects can either build new homes or retrofit new ones.

The housing options available in Australia’s cities and suburbs can be modified in one of two ways – either by building different homes in the first place, or by changing existing residences by using inventive retrofitting strategies. In either event, it’s worthwhile to think about the different kinds of architectural products available for these projects and how they might impact the eventual finished products.

Looking carefully at the products used in building

When the time comes to build a new house or modify an existing one, the component pieces used can make all the difference. At Locker Group, we have a wide range of offerings that can play a part in the process. Take curtains, for example. Our wire mesh curtains make an ideal way to add texture or character to a room – for nice, upscale homes, they might be a worthy addition, but they’re also completely optional.

Our vast catalog of construction products makes it easy for builders to customise their projects to whatever specifications they have in mind. Whether you’re constructing a mansion for an upper-class family or a more modest home, we have the building blocks that will be right for you.