Preserve homestead context and garden-centred Blender design

docs/PROJECT-CONTEXT.md

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+# Samford Valley home — project context
+
+This is Marcus Rehbock's long-term personal homestead design project. The aim is to refine the design over several years, choose a real site, add survey and LiDAR information, coordinate construction plans, and eventually create a full Unreal Engine 5 walkthrough. The design is a working concept, not an approved or engineered building proposal.
+
+## Current state: version 004, 10 September 2026
+
+Open `blender/samford-solarpunk-garden-flow-tour.blend` in Blender 5.2.1. This is the current model. It includes the detailed kitchen and bedroom upgrades, a garden-centred arrangement, 13 flowering beds, and a 30-chapter camera tour lasting 2 minutes 30 seconds at 24 fps. The former table-tennis platform and its equipment have been removed. Earlier dated scene files are historical versions.
+
+The latest plan is `plans/concept/garden-flow-plan.svg`. It is generated from the same `garden-flow-layout.json` coordinates used by the Blender revision. Current images are `renders/garden-flow-overview.png`, `garden-court.png`, `flowering-kitchen-garden.png`, `garden-flow-dining.png` and `garden-flow-training.png`.
+
+## Philosophy and values
+
+Marcus wants a peaceful, modest, natural home that supports family, strength training, meditation, sleep, books, shared meals and growing food. He described the overall feeling as **solarpunk**. The house should sit in its subtropical hillside landscape rather than dominate it.
+
+The initial inspiration is Derek Sivers' **Building without predicting**: https://sive.rs/fit . Start with simple, well-insulated rectangular modules; live in them and adapt rather than predicting everything in advance. Stewart Brand's phrase used in the brief is: “All buildings are predictions. All predictions are wrong.” Keep services and structural connections exposed and replaceable. Future additions must be visibly possible, not presented as already built.
+
+Marcus asked for recommendations based on https://blog.rehbock.xyz . The resulting approved additions support repeated themes of strength training/BJJ, shared coffee and meals, informal social play, quiet bush walking, reading and easy everyday food routines. References: https://blog.rehbock.xyz/3/ , https://blog.rehbock.xyz/4/ , https://blog.rehbock.xyz/5/ . These are design motivations, not medical claims about materials regulating the nervous system.
+
+## Buildings and programme
+
+- **Main pavilion:** approximately 12 × 6 m, long axis east–west, single-storey, one open kitchen/dining/living room. North-facing openable timber-framed sliding doors and a 2.4 m deep verandah. Initial mono-pitch roof brief: 3.4 m north to 2.7 m south. Keep the main shared room central.
+- **Parents' wing:** approximately 8 × 5 m, private enclosed bedroom and bathroom adjacent to the main pavilion via a short corridor. Current centre is (-11.8, -4.9). The bedroom is its own enclosed room; it is not part of the open living room. The bathroom is accessed via the small lobby.
+- **Meditation room:** one small enclosed pavilion, 4.5 × 4.8 m, with timber, soft clay, a meditation cushion, simple mat, candles and a low bench. Current centre (-11.8, 12), aligned with the parents' wing. It may change use later.
+- **Future rooms:** two faint unbuilt pavilion outlines, now centred at (11.8, 12) and (0, 24). The east reserve balances the meditation pavilion around the garden court. Earlier solid children's rooms were explicitly rejected. Do not reinstate them without a new request.
+- **Sauna and shower:** detached Finnish-style oval timber sauna, now centred at (-23, 4.2), with separate outdoor shower and stone terrace. It is a sauna, not a detached toilet. The bathroom remains in the parents' wing.
+- **Garage:** approximately 8 × 7 m, one white Tesla Model Y-inspired vehicle, workstation/workbench, tool storage, bicycle racks, EV charging and rooftop solar. Centre (0, -19), aligned with the main pavilion. Retain road access and turning space.
+- **Training:** covered timber deck centred at (-9.4, -19), with a separate steel exercise frame, pull-up bar, wooden rings, two adjustable dumbbells, adjustable bench and movable mats. The intended real frame must have an appropriate manufacturer/engineer load rating; this concept geometry is not a certification.
+- **Outdoor meals:** terrace adjoining the east end of the verandah, table for ten with benches and end chairs, pergola shade and a tea/matcha preparation counter.
+
+## Kitchen, sleep and technology
+
+The kitchen now contains detailed timber cabinetry/drawers, an oven, four-zone induction cooktop, exposed extraction duct, recessed sink and copper tap, copper pots/pan with stainless food-contact surfaces and a compatible-base concept, and a 2.2 × 0.95 m honed marble-topped island. The approximate island-to-rear-counter aisle is 1.7 m. A breakfast-prep counter, pantry, compact upright freezer and outdoor harvest bench support convenient food routines.
+
+The main living room has a two-bay timber bookcase with 163 books, a reading chair, side table and reading light.
+
+The bed has an Eight Sleep Pod-style cover and bedside cooling hub, lined blackout curtains and split-system air conditioning with an outdoor condenser. These are indicative product forms, not final selections. To close the curtains, enable the detailed scene, select each BLACKOUT CURTAIN, and set the `Closed - blackout` shape key to 1; 0 is open. The fast display copy shows the open state.
+
+Starlink is included. One local-AI server sits in a ventilated cabinet in the main house, without a separate server room. Marcus asked for enough computer capacity to run a “64GB model” locally. Existing model naming targets 128–256 GB system memory; exact model size, quantisation, accelerators, power, cooling and hardware selection remain unresolved.
+
+## Landscape, circulation and symmetry
+
+Version 004 responds to Marcus's request for a more cohesive architectural composition, an element of symmetry, and smooth curves in the relationships between buildings. Rectangular pavilions retain a common timber/mono-pitch vocabulary. A central garden axis links the house, oval garden court, northern future reserve and garage. The west meditation pavilion and east future reserve balance one another. Training and ground solar align on either side of the garage.
+
+The garden court has a continuous oval gravel walk, low central groundcover and paired flower beds. A curved covered timber breezeway connects the verandah to the meditation entry. Smooth gravel paths connect dining, the food garden, the quiet bench, sauna, tanks and arrival. The car route is distinct from the pedestrian garden routes. Thirteen planted beds contain illustrative native grasses, flowering perennials and bottlebrush-inspired shrubs. Two concept eucalyptus groups were relocated clear of the moved solar array and driveway.
+
+The table-tennis table **and entire dedicated deck** were removed at Marcus's request because they did not feel cohesive. Their former area is now a flowering kitchen garden. A separate **future** 10 × 10 m basketball reserve remains south of the service zone; it has neither a court surface nor a working hoop. The user did not ask to remove this reserve.
+
+Keep north-facing views, sun access and air movement in mind. Do not treat symmetry as a reason to block the verandah or force every room into identical dimensions. No property boundary, site survey, slope engineering, flood assessment, bushfire assessment or approved vehicle access has been supplied. The landscape and roads are illustrative.
+
+Design references consulted in this revision:
+- https://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design/orientation
+- https://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design/shading
+- https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/about-council/your-brisbane/environment-and-sustainability/gardening/best-plants-for-brisbane-gardens
+
+## Materials
+
+Marcus prefers “warm timber, soft clay walls, selective hemp insulation, stone underfoot where appropriate, and honest steel connections.” Timber, bamboo ceiling lining, clay/mineral finishes, exposed rafters and warm concrete/stone remain central. The initial brief included spotted-gum posts and weatherboards, aged silver-grey timber, warm oxide concrete, and light Colorbond roofing. Natural materials are preferred, with steel and other construction materials used where useful. He asked about cob, mud, bamboo and low-toxicity materials, but did not commit to a complete cob or earth-wall building system. Avoid unsupported claims that a material is non-toxic in all forms or clinically regulates the nervous system.
+
+## Energy and homesteading
+
+Keep rooftop solar, a separate ground array (current conceptual footprint centred at 9.4, -19), off-grid energy storage, two dark-green cylindrical rainwater tanks, greenhouse, six raised vegetable beds, fruit trees and garden harvest bench. Product capacities, structural design, solar yield, battery autonomy, water balance, wastewater treatment and food-production targets have not been engineered.
+
+## Blender and Unreal state
+
+Blender has full editable geometry and Cycles materials. Saved render settings are 2560 × 1440 at 100%; web preview renders are made at 60% (1536 × 864). The user previously reported low playback FPS. `00 FAST TOUR - lightweight viewport` is a static simplified display; `DETAIL - full geometry for renders` is disabled only in the viewport. Cycles renders exclude FAST and use DETAIL automatically. For detailed editing, enable DETAIL and disable FAST. After moving or removing geometry, refresh the affected fast copies as well.
+
+The tour contains 30 five-second chapters. Space plays/pauses with the pointer over the 3D view; Shift+Left Arrow returns to frame 1. The current scene opens at the overview. Update camera positions and captions whenever a subject moves.
+
+The **actual Unreal work covers only the meditation room**. `unreal/SamfordMeditation/SamfordMeditation.uproject` is the UE 5.8.2 project, with room geometry, materials, light and camera. It is not a complete Unreal homestead. FBX/GLB exports and textures are retained. Camera animation instructions are in `walkthroughs/UNREAL-CAMERA-ANIMATION.md`. A complete interactive home/site walkthrough remains future work.
+
+## Storage and continuation
+
+Private repository: https://git.rehbock.xyz/marcus/samford-valley-home . Server working archive/repository: `/home/marcus/projects/samford-valley-home`. Public gallery: https://rehbock.xyz/projects/samford-valley-home/ . Only selected images, public descriptions and a concept SVG are in the public website; working assets belong in the private project.
+
+The repository includes Blender models, renders, plans, design context, revision records, source scripts, Unreal assets and reserved folders for survey/LiDAR/construction information. Dated compressed snapshots remain in the server archive and are excluded from Git to avoid duplicating the entire repository in each commit. Git LFS is disabled on the existing Gitea installation; current assets are stored as ordinary Git binaries. Plan large-file/object storage before adding multi-gigabyte LiDAR or video datasets. No new off-site backup service has been configured.
+
+Read `REQUEST-HISTORY.md`, the decisions folder and `AGENTS.md` before making further changes. Do not mistake historical renders or earlier briefs for the current approved layout.

docs/REQUEST-HISTORY.md

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+# Request history and decisions
+
+This records the supplied conversation's substantive requests in order. It is a consolidated design record, not a verbatim transcript or a claim that every exploratory question has a final answer. Latest explicit requests take precedence.
+
+1. Build a simple house in Blender on a lush Samford Valley, Brisbane hillside.
+2. Detailed initial brief: a 12 × 6 m open living rectangle, 8 × 5 m sleeping rectangle, mono-pitch roofs, exposed spotted gum, full-height sliding doors, covered verandah and breezeway, ghost future office/guest/workshop rectangles, native planting, food beds, rainwater tanks and warm morning light. Cycles at 2560 × 1440. Derek Sivers/Stewart Brand adaptation philosophy.
+3. Add rooftop solar and an off-grid array layout, rainwater, greenhouse and garden beds for growing food.
+4. Make the house clearly extendible and materials as natural as possible.
+5. Explore cob, mud, bamboo and materials associated with calm/low toxicity. No final all-cob system was selected.
+6. Add an attractive Finnish-style detached sauna (oval acceptable), outdoor shower, tanks, Starlink and one local AI server without a server room. Preferred palette: warm timber, soft clay walls, selective hemp insulation, stone and honest steel connections.
+7. Explain Blender navigation and add a Play-button camera tour. Spread the buildings out; avoid a cramped layout. Clarify the adjoining building's use.
+8. Give the bedroom its own enclosed room adjacent to central kitchen/dining, via a short corridor.
+9. Explore land area for a homestead with a spouse and three children. No surveyed parcel or definitive hectare requirement was adopted.
+10. Explore separate enclosed, customisable spaces for each child, inspired by the modular idea.
+11. **Superseding decision:** remove the solid children's rooms and leave future shadows. Keep one small room as a meditation retreat with cushion/candles. Add vehicle road, garage, workstation and bike racks. Use a transparent viewing side on buildings to see interiors.
+12. Improve low playback FPS. Keep detailed render geometry but use simplified viewport copies.
+13. Make the garage car a Tesla and the overall concept solarpunk.
+14. Explore a build-and-contents cost estimate. No verified quantity-surveyor estimate or adopted budget is contained in this record.
+15. Scope conversion to Unreal Engine 5; add bookshelves full of books, a reading chair and a simple actual UE meditation-room render. The user installed UE locally and asked about plugins.
+16. Put the Blender project and screenshots on the server under Projects. Preserve it over several years for 3D plans, construction-site LiDAR, Blender mockups and a future Unreal walkthrough. Explain Unreal room camera animation.
+17. Add the Derek Sivers building article link to the public house project page.
+18. Add Eight Sleep, blackout curtains and air conditioning to the bedroom.
+19. Review the user's blog/values for further house ideas, including pull-ups and free weights.
+20. Approve five additions: covered training with bar/rings/dumbbells/bench/mats; outdoor table for 8–10 and tea/matcha; folding table tennis with a future separate basketball area; shaded garden walking loop ending at a quiet bench; breakfast preparation, pantry/freezer and harvest bench.
+21. Upgrade kitchen fidelity with oven, induction, copper pots and pans and a marble countertop island.
+22. **Current layout revision:** remove the ping-pong/table-tennis area because it lacks cohesion. Improve geometric relationships, an element of symmetry, smooth curves between buildings, and add more gardens/flowers/plants. Implemented as version 004 with aligned pavilions, garden court, curved paths and covered breezeway. The future basketball reserve was not cancelled.
+23. **Current preservation request:** create a repository on git.rehbock.xyz that keeps this context and the Blender file. The user explicitly instructed using SSH into rehbock.xyz to do this. Repository setup uses the server's existing authenticated Git key and private push-to-create capability.
+
+## Milestones
+
+- v001: initial server project archive, public gallery, reading library and actual Unreal meditation study.
+- v002: bedroom sleep setup.
+- v003: daily-life additions and detailed kitchen; 30-chapter, 2½-minute tour.
+- v004: table-tennis area removed; coherent garden-centred layout and flowering landscape; private Git repository and consolidated context.
+
+## Still to decide
+
+Actual property and required area; surveyed levels/boundaries; planning approvals and bushfire/flood response; engineering and detailed accessible circulation; quantities/budget; product selections and energy/water balances; server hardware; final botanical planting plan; large LiDAR storage and independent backups; full Unreal conversion and interactive walkthrough. Preserve these as future work rather than assuming they are completed.