ReHousing Proceedings (pages 6 - 45.pdf)

Synopsis

This conference aims to reconsider architecture’s relationship to general housing provision in Australia.

This is an ambitious task because Australian architects generally treat the possibility of architectural involvement in general housing with either a shrug of despair or quizzical disengagement. Australian DUFKLWHFWV LQYROYHG LQ GZHOOLQJ GHVLJQ FUHDWH VLJQLÂżFDQW DQG LQQRYDWLYH GHVLJQ RXWFRPHV KRZHYHU this effort is mainly directed to achieving elite objects for a privileged minority.

It is very easy to understand this disengagement. 79% of Australians live in detached dwellings, 9% live in attached dwellings (terraces or duplexes) and only around 12% live in apartments. The public sector funds less than 1.5% of housing, leaving the market to provide the remaining 98.5% or more.

Less than 10% of housing in Australia has architectural involvement and many observers consider WKH ÂżJXUH IRU DUFKLWHFWXUDO LQYROYHPHQW LQ QHZ KRXVLQJ WR EH PXFK OHVV The housing industry responsible for general housing in Australia is characterised by small-scale, cottage-based, craft-orientated, building practices with little design input. These practices have delivered economical housing which has made Australian home ownership rates amongst the highest in the world but these same practices have also worked against innovation and research and development. The cheapness and simplicity of detached house construction relying as it does on non-unionised labour and low technology has with a few exceptions excluded architectural involvement. The provision of housing in Australia, in particular the market delivered house or apartment has changed little over the past 60 years. House plans still adhere to a conventional and traditional provision of rooms; orientation and open space are still often mishandled and design quality still appears not to have improved.

Against this context enormous transformations have taken place in Australian society.

Household structure has radically transformed from a monotype nuclear family structure to the highly diverse group of family combinations that characterises our contemporary society. Immigration, the ageing of the population and the transformation of household makeup have created enormous projected housing demand particularly in cities such as Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. These SUHVVXUHV OHDG WR VLJQLÂżFDQW HQYLURQPHQWDO WKUHDW LQ WHUPV RI DYDLODEOH ODQG IRU KRXVLQJ ,Q UHVSRQVH reHousing, Melbourne 2006

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to this government in Australia now promotes higher density housing on redeveloped sites and UHVWULFWV JUHHQ ÂżHOG KRXVLQJ GHYHORSPHQW A complex variety of household structures now characterises our housing occupation. While the family unit is still the dominant type (particularly for a single parent family) the fastest growing household type is for single women. The ageing of the population, divorce, postponed marriage, childless and same sex couples, group individual and individual household structures have radically WUDQVIRUPHG RXU KRXVHKROGV 2Q D QDWLRQDO VFDOH WKHVH FRPSOH[LWLHV FUHDWH VLJQLÂżFDQW SUHVVXUHV IRU appropriate housing particularly in suburban contexts where the housing stock is highly homogenous. $ VLJQLÂżFDQW DVSHFW RI WKLV LV WKH QRZ UHFRJQLVHG SUHIHUHQFHV IRU SHRSOH ZKR FKDQJH KRXVHV WR relocate in the same region due to family and social connections within regions. Sea changers, grey nomads and empty nesters moving to apartments are in a minority compared to this phenomenon RI UHORFDWLRQ LQ UHJLRQ ,Q PRVW VXEXUEDQ DUHDV D VLJQLÂżFDQW LVVXH RI KRXVLQJ SURYLVLRQ LV WKH VXSSO\ of alternative housing types in homogenous suburban contexts.

1HZ KRXVLQJ LQ $XVWUDOLD ZLOO FRQWLQXH WR EH SURYLGHG RQ IULQJH JUHHQ ÂżHOG VLWHV DQG ZKLOH LQFUHDVLQJ scrutiny will be placed on this type of development it is in the main likely to continue to be undertaken by builder developers according to traditional small scale, low cost principles. Another form of development that is rarely considered in policy will be the inevitable transformation of existing VXEXUEV DV YDULRXV LQÂżOO VWUDWHJLHV DUH XQGHUWDNHQ WR DPHOLRUDWH WKH PLVPDWFK EHWZHHQ DQ DJHLQJ population and increasingly variegated households and homogenous suburban housing contexts.

7KH GLIÂżFXOW\ RI ODQG DVVHPEODJH LV OLNHO\ WR PHDQ WKDW WKLV LV XQGHUWDNHQ DV RSSRUWXQLVWLF LQÂżOO RQ DYDLODEOH KRXVLQJ ORWV XWLOLVLQJ WKH VDPH EXLOGLQJ SUDFWLFHV DV HYLGHQFHG LQ *UHHQÂżHOG GHYHORSPHQW Another more complex form of housing provision, which is currently entwined in planning policy for several large Australian cities, will be the construction of medium to higher density housing at activity centres. While policy documents such as Melbourne 2030 imply overly optimistic levels of medium density housing redevelopment at activity centres it is likely that our cities and suburban FHQWUHV ZLOO FRQWLQXH WR H[SHULHQFH D VLJQLÂżFDQW LQFUHDVH LQ WKH OHYHO RI FRPSOH[ KLJKHU GHQVLW\ housing development.

In addition to more challenging building processes, activity centre housing will have a more complex relationship to capital provision, local government and state legislation. Whereas many suburban builders also operate as developer speculators, different development scenarios with a greater level of complexity will apply in activity centre development. For developers their relationship to local authorities will be more challenging: as councils reconcile the demands of existing users and owners with community aspirations and needs. Councils will also face the ever-present requirement to generate economic activity while still enhancing social and environmental sustainability. The SURGXFWLRQ RI KRXVLQJ LQ WKLV FRPSOH[ ÂżHOG ZLOO EH D FKDOOHQJH WKDW UHTXLUHV FUHDWLYH VROXWLRQV 6XFK a challenge would lead one to assume a greater level of architectural participation. However, what should the nature of this participation be? Our hope is that it is an opportunity to not just respond to inevitable and predetermined outcomes but to reconsider architectures participation as an integral and originating participant in these developments. For this to happen architecture needs to be able to articulate the nature of its contribution and to do so is not as straightforward as it may appear.

One might begin with a consideration of the relationship between architecture and the dwelling; a relationship traditionally viewed as fundamental to architecture but one that appears increasingly fraught as architecture struggles to impact on the physical or psychological landscape of housing today. Where architecture was once able to propagandise lifestyle this role has been assumed by WKH SHUYDVLYH OLIHVW\OH LQGXVWU\ DQG WKH YHKLFOHV RI WKLV LQGXVWU\ GH¿QH WKH DFWXDO FXOWXUH RI GZHOOLQJ far more powerfully than architecture. Large furniture companies such as Ikea and Freedom appear IDU PRUH DGHSW WKDQ DUFKLWHFWXUH DW GH¿QLQJ GZHOOLQJ HQYLURQPHQW DVSLUDWLRQV DQG SURYLGLQJ IRU WKHLU HTXLSDJH 6HYHUDO REVHUYHUV RI WKLV VLWXDWLRQ FODLP WKDW DQ\ UHDO GH¿QLWLRQ RI KRXVLQJ PD\ RQO\ EH arrived at through a rejection of architecture’s obsession with the dwelling as object and instead an examination of the conditions shaping its performance. These conditions would include the way we work, our relationships with one another, the structure of our family units, where we live, the nature RI RXU OHLVXUH KRZ PXFK PRELOLW\ ZH UHTXLUH DQG WKH IRUPV RI FRPPXQLFDWLRQ ZH QHHG WR IXO¿OO RXU lives. reHousing, Melbourne 2006

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However, while these admonishments encourage an expanded engagement for our consideration of dwelling, the architect will still be required to conceive and realise physical environments for their curation. To do so architects will utilise their fundamental disciplinary skill of design. Architects can respond to these issues through the design of high quality plan dispositions, spatial relationships, treatment of aspect and orientation or by proposing new and innovative forms for their arrangement. +RZHYHU WR FRPPXQLFDWH WKH VLJQLÂżFDQFH RI WKHVH VSDWLDO VROXWLRQV LQ WKH FRQWH[W RI FRQWHPSRUDU\ KRXVH PDUNHWLQJ LV H[WUHPHO\ GLIÂżFXOW 7KH PDUNHWLQJ RI KRXVLQJ LV QRZ REVHVVHG with the evocation of lifestyle atmosphere rather than revealing how the physical disposition of the dwellings is contributory to these lifestyles. Conversely, architectural discourse itself appears to be uninterested in revealing how its primary disciplinary procedures of plan arrangement and composition could contribute to contemporary dwelling design. There is an absence of discussion that uncovers and describes these techniques or reveals the richness of their manifestation in contemporary architectural housing or over their long historical development. Similarly it is almost LPSRVVLEOH WR ÂżQG DQ DUFKLWHFWXUDO GLVFRXUVH ZKLFK DWWHPSWV WR XQFRYHU WKH HPERGLHG NQRZOHGJH LQ contemporary and historical housing design and communicate this in a manner where this knowledge could be utilised in developing new housing solutions.

Through this conference we are seeking to interrogate these issues. On the one hand we are looking for new relationships between architecture and general housing and how these might be developed. On the other hand, we are attempting to demonstrate the contribution of architecture to general housing by reconsidering the way architects articulate the value of design. While general DUFKLWHFWXUDO LPDJHU\ LV HDVLO\ PDUNHWHG VLJQL¿FDQW DVSHFWV RI GZHOOLQJ GHVLJQ DQG WKHLU VSDWLDO disposition in particular, their interrelationships, their appropriateness to contemporary life and the accumulative nature of this knowledge are absent from either the marketing of housing or architecture’s own discourses. We wish to consider how new pressures brought to bear on housing procurement might affect and involve architectural participation. Rather than merely broadening a market share we seek to understand these issues in terms of new forms of architectural contribution and possibly a reconsideration of architecture’s role in general housing. We wish to examine the relationship of architectural design to these issues, in particular how architectural design might be more generally applied in housing and how the contribution of architectural design could be more clearly articulated.

Shane Murray, February 2006

Polynesian Housing in Auckland * Mike Austin Auckland is sometimes called the world’s biggest Polynesian city but Polynesians occupy only some of the suburbs. The original Ngati Whatua inhabitants have been swamped, not only by the European (Pakeha) settlers, but also over the last half century by Maori groups from other parts of New Zealand. To add a further complexity there are large numbers of immigrants from other 3DFLÂżF LVODQGV It has been argued that Polynesian’s housing requirements are different to the majority inhabitants LQ WKH VXEXUEV DQG UHFHQW IHDWXUH ÂżOPV H[SORLW WKHVH GLIIHUHQFHV DQG FDQ EH VHHQ DV D UHDGLQJ RI the occupation of the house and city through Polynesian eyes. ‘Once Were Warriors’ plays out the suburban house as a location of Maori dissolution and violence, which is contrasted with the rural homeland. This nostalgia ignores the reality that many rural areas lack both work and acceptable housing.

7KH ORZHU PLGGOH FODVV VXEXUE RI 0W 5RVNLOO LV WKH VHWWLQJ RI WKH ÂżOP Âľ1R Âś 7KLV WLWOH LV WKH VWUHHW number of the state built house that is the location for the action, most of which takes place RXWVLGH WKH KRXVH 7KLV LQ DFFRUGDQFH ZLWK 3DFLÂżF LVODQG WUDGLWLRQV DQG WKH EDFN \DUG RI WKH KRXVH LV XVHG LQ FXOWXUDOO\ VSHFLÂżF ZD\V 7KH LQVLGH RXWVLGH UHODWLRQV RI WKH KRXVH UHYROYH DURXQG D GRRU that has been boarded up for twelve years and many living practices are revealed that are other to the norms of suburban behaviour. ‘Sione’s Wedding’ repeats some of these themes, but it is set in older housing in an inner suburb.

7KHUH LV LQ WKHVH ÂżOPV D FHUWDLQ DFFHSWDQFH DQG ULJKW RI RFFXSDWLRQ RI WKH IDEULF RI WKH FLW\ ZKLFK expose some of the European assumptions that have shaped it. The paper discusses these issues.

*This paper has been blind refereed by academic peers appointed by the conference committe according to DEST standards.

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3RO\QHVLDQV PDNH XS RQH ÂżIWK RI WKH $RWHDURD 1HZ =HDODQG SRSXODWLRQ 7KH PDMRULW\ RI WKHVH DUH LQGLJHQRXV 0DRUL RI WKH WRWDO DQG WKH UHVW DUH LPPLJUDQWV IURP 3DFLÂżF ,VODQGV *OREDOO\ $RWHDURD 1HZ =HDODQG KDV EHHQ ZHOO KRXVHG H[FHSW WKDW LV IRU 3RO\QHVLDQV 6LQJOH XQLW suburban houses have been the norm, until relatively recently, when there has been a spate of apartment building. It is very unusual for Polynesians to live in apartments, or even two storey houses because it is believed that no one should be above any person of status. This is sometimes explained by Maori beliefs in tapu.

0DRUL ZHUH UXUDO GZHOOHUV XS XQWLO WKH 6HFRQG :RUOG :DU ,Q WKH ÂżIWLHV DQG VL[WLHV WKHUH ZDV D migration to the cities in search of work.1 At that time this was found in the centres of the cities, the locations of the wharves and labour hire centres, and in Auckland this led to the occupation of the inner city suburbs of Parnell, Freemans Bay and Ponsonby. The inner city areas were regarded as ‘slums’, suitable for re-development and some public housing was built. Since then WKHVH DUHDV KDYH EHFRPH SRSXODU DQG DUH QRZ JHQWULÂżHG DQG SULYDWLVHG 'XULQJ WKH VL[WLHV DQG seventies Maori shifted to the urban fringes where State provided rental housing was located.

This housing derives from the mid nineteen thirties when the newly elected labour government built state rental housing for workers. Much has been written about the decision to make the original housing individual cottages, every one to be different in appearance and all built to the highest standards. This state housing has been the site of political difference where labour governments built houses for rent and conservatives sold them for private ownership. Maori had special provision to purchase houses, which were distributed (‘pepper potted’) in state housing areas. However the numbers built were limited, and because many Maori were on low incomes they were eligible for state housing anyway, which produced ‘a result more characteristic of the salt cellar.’2 As a result these suburbs became predominantly Maori suburbs.

Recently the deaths from abuse of twin Maori babies in one such suburb in Auckland (Mangere) provoked comment from everybody from the Prime Minister to Maori activists. This endless stream of opinion was accompanied by a photograph of the house, as if this was somehow responsible for the deviance. However it is hard to see what evidence there is for this. The house appears completely normal and one that the majority of global citizens would be thrilled to occupy, and indeed state houses located in the more desirable suburbs are much sought after.

The situation in the house where the abuse occurred was compared to that portrayed in the ÂżOP Once Were Warriors, set in a state house in an outer Auckland suburb, and based on the book with the same title depicting the hopelessness and violence of urban Maori life.3 In the ÂżOP D PHPRUDEOH H[WHULRU VKRW VKRZV D WHHQDJH VXLFLGH KDQJLQJ IURP D WUHH ZLWK WKH KRXVH DV backdrop. The interior of the house is depicted as constricting and the scene of violence. A local newspaper headline is a quote from Pita Sharples a Maori politician: ‘Maori are not brown Pakeha’ ‘“It wasn’t as bad as they make out,â€? says Sharples, describing the home the twins lived in.“ Like many houses in New Zealand, they’re three-bedroom, sometimes the materials they’re made out RI DUH QRW WKDW Ă€DVKÂŤ ´œ 6KDUSOHV LV REYLRXVO\ VWUXJJOLQJ WR H[SODLQ ZKDW LV ZURQJ ZLWK WKH KRXVH and in fact the materials are possibly better than many architect designed houses of the time. %DFN LQ WKH VHYHQWLHV LW ZDV VXJJHVWHG WKDW WKHUH ZHUH D QXPEHU RI PLVÂżWV EHWZHHQ 0DRUL and their houses. 5 This was based on functional assumptions and as Cairns has pointed out, functionalism is only one way of analysing architecture. He contrasts this with the neo-rationalist view of architecture as autonomous, but it could be argued that this supposed autonomy is anthropocentric in its assumption of European culture, and doesn’t account for other architectural traditions. Cairns suggests a third position focussing on place, and says that each of these positions ‘implicating function, type and place, draws on a particular version of the conventional migrancy script.’6

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Cairns suggests that migrancy demands other architectural articulations based on movement.

The somewhat heavily applied message of Once Were Warriors is that if Maori are to survive they need to return to their rural roots to recover their culture. However it could be argued that the real poverty and bad housing have always been found in the rural areas, while violence is by no means UHVWULFWHG WR WKH FLW\ 7KH ÂżOP Whale Rider has a rural setting, but revolves around the challenging of traditional values and practices. Here the substandard housing is offset by the idyllic coastal location and nostalgia, which work to disguise poverty.

The urban migration had several effects but one important one was that the rural areas lost their young and energetic members. Further from this migration and urbanisation (which was often commented on in negative terms) came a renaissance in Maori culture and language, starting in the seventies and continuing up to the present. This involved constructing the traditional institutions known as marae in the cities. This was also resisted by the conservative tangata whenua but now the marae has taken over from the church as a community building everywhere.7 In the mid seventies it was pointed out that marae were as important (if not more important) to Maori as individual houses but this was criticised by some who said that it was suggesting that Maori didn’t need decent housing.8 Auckland has a Polynesian population of almost one quarter of the total of one and a half million. ,Q $XFNODQG 3DFLÂżF ,VODQGHUV WKH FRPPRQ GHVLJQDWLRQ WKDW GRHV GLVVHUYLFH WR WKH VXEVWDQWLDO differences between the islands of Samoa, Tonga, Niue and the Cook Islands) make up 13% of WKH WRWDO DQG DFWXDOO\ RXWQXPEHU 0DRUL DW 3DFLÂżF ,VODQG LPPLJUDQWV DUULYHG IURP WKH VL[WLHV onwards and occupied the reception area of the central city that had been vacated by the Maori VKLIW WR WKH IULQJHV *HQWULÂżFDWLRQ DQG FKDLQ PLJUDWLRQ KDV PHDQW WKDW WKH 3DFLÂżF ,VODQG SRSXODWLRQ has moved out to the west and south of the city. Jane Jacobs points out that: ‘Migrancy places into question monogamous modes of dwelling but it does not do away with the matter of house or ORFDOLW\ÂŤWKH PLJUDQWV VHQVH RI KRPH LV VSOLW EHWZHHQ KHUH DQG WKHUH Âś9. %DFN LQ WKH VL[WLHV DQ LQYHVWLJDWLRQ RI WKH KRXVLQJ DQG ZHOIDUH QHHGV RI 3DFLÂżF ,VODQGHUV ZDV VXUSULVHG WR ÂżQG WKDW JHQHUDOO\ WKH\ ZHUH GRLQJ ZHOO JLYHQ WKDW WKH FHQWUH FLW\ KRXVLQJ ZDVQÂśW of high standard.10 +RZHYHU ZKDW WKH\ GLG ÂżQG ZDV VRPH ÂľRYHUFURZGLQJÂś DQG WKH QXPEHU RI people per dwelling has always been used as measurable statistic for housing assessment.

Overcrowding has been taken as a sign of pathology and the commentators on the Auckland baby deaths focussed in the end on the number of people in the house, which has come to be called ‘clustering’. It has been pointed out that this is often necessary for mutual economic and other survival. Once again the issue becomes middle class assumptions based on the norm of the three bedroom house for the Pakeha nuclear family. ,Q FDVH WRR URV\ D SLFWXUH LV EHLQJ SDLQWHG KHUH D UHFHQW VXUYH\ LV UHSRUWHG DV VD\LQJ Âľ3DFLÂżF IDPLOLHV UHSRUWHG WKH ZRUVW KDUGVKLS DPRQJ HWKQLF JURXSV DQG WKH PRVW VLJQLÂżFDQW GHFUHDVH LQ living standards, followed by Maori.11 There is a 3DFLÂżF ,VODQGV 'HVLJQ *XLGH, produced at the instigation of the Housing New Zealand Corporation, to ‘inform designers, and encourage the GHYHORSPHQW RI QHZ LQQRYDWLYH DQG FUHDWLYH KRXVLQJ GHVLJQ IRU 3DFLÂżF SHRSOH Âś12 The emphasis is on extended family living and the notion of multi-purpose spaces. However once again the functional basis for this guide is indicated by the use of a matrix so popular with the design methods practitioners of the sixties, and indeed the authors were trained in local architecture schools.13 :H PLJKW JHW VRPH FOXHV DERXW KRZ WKH KRXVLQJ LV DFWXDOO\ RFFXSLHG IURP WZR UHFHQW ÂżOPV DERXW 3DFLÂżF ,VODQGHUV LQ $XFNODQG 7KH ÂżOP No 2 revolves around a state house that is No 2 in a lower middle class suburban street. Sione’s Wedding is set in an inner Auckland suburb with classic QLQHWHHQWK FHQWXU\ WLPEHU YLOODV EXW VLJQLÂżFDQWO\ LW LV DOVR LW LV VHW LQ WKH VWUHHW DQG WKH SDUN DQG WKH EDUV RI WKH FLW\ %RWK ÂżOPV LQGLFDWH DQ HDVH RI RFFXSDWLRQ RI WKH FLW\ VKRZLQJ \RXQJ PHQ HQGOHVVO\ reHousing, Melbourne 2006

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on the move and not settled in the house interior. +RXVHV DUH WKH ORFDWLRQV RI FKDQJH 1R LV RZQHG E\ D )LMLDQ PDWULDUFK DQG VRPH RI WKH ÂżOP LV GLVFXVVLRQ RYHU WKH ÂżQDQFLQJ RI WKH KRXVH 7KLV WDNHV SODFH LQ WKH NLWFKHQ ZRPHQÂśV WHUULWRU\ DQG WKH VLWH RI WKH GRPHVWLF ZKLOH WKH NLWFKHQ LQ WKH ÂżOP LV OLPLWHG WR D VLQJOH VLQN EHQFK W\SLFDO RI the nineteen forties state house. Men do not use the kitchen. In the Design Guide it is said that the kitchen ‘needs to be large enough for two or three people working at the same time.’14. The Design Guide proposes ‘the lounge’ as the heart of the house able to be separated from the living and dining rooms and the kitchen’.15 However in the movies we do not see the lounge being used except formally.

Instead the action takes place outside and No 2 has a boarded up door that has been that way for WKH WZHOYH \HDUV VLQFH WKH GHDWK RI WKH PDWULDUFKÂśV KXVEDQG ,W LV D 3DFLÂżF WUDGLWLRQ WR DEDQGRQ KRXVHV RQ D GHDWK DQG GRRUV DUH SDUWLFXODUO\ VLJQLÂżFDQW LQ )LMLDQ OLIH ZKHUH WKH WUDGLWLRQDO KRXVH has up to 4 doors each one limited to a particular role and used by particular people. Doors also get attention in the Design Guide where ‘a wide main entry is important for formal occasions such DV GHDWK LQ WKH IDPLO\ ZKHUH WKH FRIÂżQ LV FDUULHG WKURXJK WKH IURQW GRRU Âś16 It continues: ‘it is also FRPPRQ IRU 3DFLÂżF SHRSOH WR HQWHU D KRXVH RQ LQIRUPDO RFFDVLRQV WKURXJK D VHFRQGDU\ DFFHVV (a side or rear door), preserving the sanctity of the main entry.’17 %XW WKH GRRU LV DOVR VLJQLÂżFDQW EHFDXVH PRVW RI WKH DFWLRQ LQ WKH ÂżOP WDNHV SODFH RXWVLGH WKH KRXVH DQG WKH ERDUGHG XS GRRU restricts this so called inside-outside movement.

The back yard in No 2 EHFRPHV WKH OLYLQJ FRXUW\DUG RI WKH 3DFLÂżF DQG EHFDXVH RI WKH VORSLQJ ground a level platform is built for entertaining and dancing. The platform is fundamental in the 3DFLÂżF DQG VHHQ LQ WKH PDUDH LQ LWV YDULRXV IRUPV WKURXJKRXW 3RO\QHVLD ,Q WKH Design Guide it is suggested that the outside space should be designed ‘as in any house design’ except for some provision for a vegetable garden and for cooking outside.18 ,Q WKH ÂżOP WKH PHQ FRRN D SLJ RQ D spit and the meal and dancing all take place outside. This suggests that outside space is more LPSRUWDQW DQG VSHFLÂżF IRU GDLO\ OLIH WKDQ VXJJHVWHG E\ WKH Guide.

One of the male family members lives in a caravan in the back yard. This is reminiscent of the VHJUHJDWLRQ RI PDOHV LQ WKH PHQÂśV KRXVH WKDW LV FRPPRQ WKURXJKRXW WKH 3DFLÂżF 7KH Design Guide points out that the elderly are accommodated inside, whereas young men can be in sleepouts and it states that ‘the female family members, especially young girls and teenagers, are also accommodated inside, always separate from the males.’19. garages are used in a variety of ways and the Guide DFNQRZOHGJHV WKDW JDUDJHV DUH D ÂľPXOWLSXUSRVH RYHUĂ€RZ XWLOLW\ VSDFH IRU ZHOFRPLQJ ceremonies, entertaining and temporary visitors.’20 ,QWHUDFWLRQ LQ WKH 3DFLÂżF RFFXUV DFURVV WKH EHDFK EXW WKH EHDFK LV GLVWDQW DQG SRVVLEO\ DQ HVFDSH for most Polynesians in Auckland. The built equivalent of the beach is the veranda where the colonial interacted with the indigenous in the in-between space between inside and outside.

Verandas are discussed in the Guide EXW VHHQ LQ WHUPV RI ¾SUDFWLFDO EHQH¿WV DOORZLQJ IRU D VHDPOHVV ÀRZ EHWZHHQ LQVLGH DQG RXWGRRU VSDFHV œ21 However where living occurs outdoors the veranda becomes a sheltered niche off the outside space rather than an extension of inside colonial space. The Polynesian fale with its extraordinary openness can be seen as a sheltered pavilion in the outdoor space of the malae. :KDW WKHQ FDQ WKHVH ¿OPV WHOO XV" :H VHH WKDW WKH QRWLRQ RI WKH KRXVH DV W\SH LV FKDOOHQJHG What is more important is the importance and use of the site and its space. There is traditional precedent for this with pre-European Maori paa and kainga as fenced enclosures. Pre-European Tonga was described as courtyards screened by fences. A house in Bali consists of a number of separate pavilions in courtyards, not unlike Ise temple in Japan, which is an example well known to architects. Polynesian gang houses in Auckland have fences around them, which are seen to be reHousing, Melbourne 2006

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security measures but may be an indication of a more fundamental desire built by those assertive HQRXJK WR EXLOG ZKDW WKH\ ZDQW 7KH DIĂ€XHQW KDYH DOZD\V ZDOOHG LQ WKHLU SURSHUW\ This is the importance of open space as living space. This very openness is the dream of modernism that contemporary architecture provides for its elite clients. This is housing not as closed objects but as living space with pavilions for some activities - many occurring outside.

Australasians reserve this experience for the barbeque. It will of course be objected that the climate of New Zealand mitigates against outdoor living but they used to say the same about outside areas for cafes, and it seems that now people eat outside all year round even in impossible places like Wellington. ,Q WKH ÂżOPV WKH FLW\ LV XVHG DV D UHVRXUFH ZLWK WKH LQKDELWDQWV Ă€RZLQJ LQ DQG RXW RI SXEV VKRSV streets and parks. The city becomes a network of possibilities, which operate through kinship and connection. This is a ‘driving in the city’ to misquote de Cerceau.22 Archigram hoped to move from WKH Âż[LW\ RI DUFKLWHFWXUH DQG ZH FDQ FHUWDLQO\ VHH WKH LQĂ€XHQFH RI WKLV LQ WKH KHWHURWRSLF VSDFH RI WKH FLW\ KRWHOV DQG RIÂżFHV WHUPLQDOV DQG PXVHXPV ,Q WKLV ZD\ WKH FLW\ FDQ EH VHHQ DV SURYLGLQJ rather than just the house. ‘What results is an architecture that comes to be imbricated with the HIIHFWV RI D SDUWLFXODU NLQG RI PRYHPHQW WKDW FDUULHV RQJRLQJ PXOWLSOH LQWHUPLWWHQW DQG LQWHQVLÂżHG investments in place.’23 This could be especially important for people who have a long history of migration and movement across oceans; where the idea of impermanence and transience is fundamental to island dwellers.

Polynesians raised in Auckland have a complex relation to their place of origin, which they have never known, and to the city in which they have grown up, but to which they do not belong. We are involved here in a de-territorialisation of architecture, with the shift of the meanings associated with the domestic from inside the house to outside and ultimately to the city.

(Endnotes) 1 Joan Metge, A New Maori Migration: Rural and Urban Relations in Northern New Zealand, London: Athlone Press, 1964.

2 Report of The Commission of Enquiry into Housing, Wellington: Govt Printer, 1971, p. 324.

3 Alan Duff, Once were Warriors, Auckland:Tandem Press,1994.

4 Sunday Star Times , July 2, 2006. p. C3 7KLV ZDV EDVHG RQ WKH ZRUN RI &KULVWRSKHU $OH[DQGHU ZKHUH ¿W EHWZHHQ IXQFWLRQ DQG IRUP ZDV GH¿QHG DV WKH HOLPLQDWLRQ RI PLV¿W 0 5 $XVWLQ ¾+RXVLQJ VLQFH WKH +XQQ 5HSRUWœ 7H 0DRUL 9RO 1R SS 6 Stephen Cairns, Drifting: Architecture and Migrancy’, London: Routledge, 2004, p. 38.

7 Hugh Kawharu, ‘Urban Immigrants and Tangata Whenua’, Erik Schwimmer (ed) The Maori People in the Nineteen Sixties, Auckland, Blackwood and Janet Paul, 1968, pp. 174-186.

8 M.R. Austin, ‘Maori Housing in Context’, Auckland at Full Stretch, Graham Bush and Claudia Scott (eds), Auckland: Auckland City Council, 1976, pp. 109-114.

9Jane Jacobs, ‘Too many houses for a home’, Stephen Cairns (ed) Drifting: Architecture and Migrancy’, London: Routledge, 2004, p.167.

10J. R. McCreary, Housing and Welfare Needs of Islanders in Auckland, Wellington:Victoria University of Wellington, 1965.

11‘Report chronicles NZ’s rising tide of poverty’, The New Zealand Herald, July 12, 2006, p. A3.

3DFLÂżF +RXVLQJ 'HVLJQ *XLGH WKH %HJLQQLQJ )DXPXLQD DQG $VVRFLDWHV +RXVLQJ 1HZ =HDODQG -XO\ S 13Design Guide, p. 11.

14Design Guide, p. 9.

15Design Guide, p. 9.

16Design Guide, p. 8.

17Design Guide, p. 8 18Design Guide, p. 6 19Design Guide, p. 10 20Design Guide, p. 9 21Design Guide, p. 9 22Michel de Certeau, ‘Walking in the City’ The Practice of Everyday Life, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984, pp. 91-110.

23Stephen Cairns, p. 42.

Mike Austin is Professor of Architecture at the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at Unitec New Zealand where he teaches theory and design. His research area is the architecture RI WKH 3DFLÂżF LVODQGV reHousing, Melbourne 2006

13

More Than a Roof Overhead: Towards an Effective Design Practice For remote Indigennous Housing Esther Charlesworth

*

This paper will examine best practice Indigenous housing across a range of communities in remote Australia. Through collaborative researcha undertaken with Indigenous Australians in three FRPPXQLWLHV LQ 4XHHQVODQG 3DOP ,VODQG 7KH 1RUWKHUQ 7HUULWRU\ 0DQLQJULGD DQG 6RXWK &HQWUDO Australia (Anangu Pitjantjatjara Lands), I will examine the ways in which Australian architects are responding to the complex cultural, social and economic requirements of Indigenous families and households in the delivery of new housing projects.

Despite acceptance of the National Indigenous Housing Design Guide by Commonwealth and 6WDWH 7HUULWRU\ KRXVLQJ DQG ,QGLJHQRXV DJHQFLHV GRPLQDQW SDWWHUQV RI KRXVLQJ GHVLJQ DQG provision in Australia are meeting neither the functional needs nor the personal and cultural aspirations of many Indigenous families. As well as the dire shortage of housing and huge maintenance backlogs in Indigenous communities and the move to “self-ruleâ€? for many Indigenous housing agencies, the need for community-based designed housing is now urgent. Exemplar projects that will be discussed are successful across a number of spatial parameters: individual DQG IDPLO\ PRELOLW\ DQG Ă€XFWXDWLQJ KRXVHKROG VL]H WKH FXOWXUDO LPSRUWDQFH RI WKH H[WHQGHG IDPLO\ the importance of housing to health and well-being, and the emerging needs of special groups such as aged community members and the desire of young adults for single person and couple accommodation.

The paper will also address issues related to: • how Indigenous people use dwelling spaces and their housing aspirations, • the degree to which current housing design practices satisfy such aspirations, • the consequent impacts on dwelling functionality and household and community well-being, • the design of Indigenous housing in relation to cultural needs, land tenure, landuse planning and available building materials, and ‡ GHVLJQ VWUDWHJLHV IRU WKH GHVLJQ DQG PRGL¿FDWLRQ RI ,QGLJHQRXV KRXVLQJ VR WKDW LW LV OLYHDEOH functional and socially and environmentally sustainable for different family types in remote and provincial Australia.

a

Research undertaken as part of an AHURI grant with co-researchers, John Fien, Gini Lee and Doug Baker.

*This paper has been blind refereed by academic peers appointed by the conference committe according to DEST standards.

reHousing, Melbourne 2006

14

Dr Esther Charlesworth and Professor John Fien

For UAL CONFERENCE, OCTOBER 2006

INTRODUCTION

I don’t know where architecture comes into all of this, because from what I see it’s all driven by dollars and not by design. It’s not driven by community wants or space usage either. I don’t think it’s driven by anything other than how much weather gets into a house and how cheap they can built as many houses as possible.1 You can tick every box: health, education, training, employment, community harmony, substance abuse, violence, and criminal behaviour. With all our EHVW HIIRUWV DQG GHVSLWH JUHDW ÂżQDQFLDO RXWOD\V ZLWKRXW GHFHQW KRXVLQJ RXU chances of solving these problems are likely to be largely futile.2 Background Mass media reporting of social unrest in “Top Endâ€? communities in May-June 2006 has increased public awareness in the rest of Australia of the urgent need for vast and rapid improvements in Indigenous housing. The many housing initiatives under the National Aboriginal Health Strategy (NAHS), the Commonwealth-State Housing Agreements (CSHA) and the Community Housing and Infrastructure Program (CHIP) over the past decade have brought a wide range of improvements in access to housing and attention to family and household needs in relation to design, sanitation, hygiene, family size, storage etc. However, despite the fact that ‘no other group in Australia experiences the same level of social, economic, health and educational disadvantage as Indigenous Australians’,3 the issue of remote Indigenous housing is under-researched and underresourced in design research and design practice in Australia.

Current patterns of housing design and provision are meeting neither the functional needs nor the personal and cultural aspirations of many Indigenous families. As well as the dire shortage of housing and huge maintenance backlogs in Indigenous communities in many provincial and 1 2

Interview, Darwin, 9 June 2006.

Elliot McAdam MLA, Minister for Housing, Local Government & Sport, Northern Territory Government

3 Memmott, P & Moran, M (2001) Indigenous Settlements of Australia. Settlement Liveability and Quality of Lifestyle. Department of Environment and Heritage technical paper, Series 2 pp 1. reHousing, Melbourne 2006

15

UHPRWH SDUWV RI $XVWUDOLD WKH QHHG IRU VLJQL¿FDQW FKDQJH LV PDGH DOO WKH PRUH XUJHQW E\ LVVXHV UHODWHG WR LQGLYLGXDO DQG IDPLO\ PRELOLW\ DQG ÀXFWXDWLQJ KRXVHKROG VL]H WKH FXOWXUDO LPSRUWDQFH RI the extended family, the importance of housing to health and well-being, and the emerging needs of special groups such as aged community members and the desire of young adults for single person and couple accommodation.

Writing almost twenty years ago, Paul Memmott noted that, even back then, discussions about WKH ³$ERULJLQDO KRXVLQJ SUREOHP´ ZHUH GHFDGHV ROG DQG WKDW ³2QH PLJKW ZHOO DVN  ¾:K\ LVQœW LW VROYHG"œ´ +H ZHQW RQ WR GH¿QH WKH SUREOHP DV IROORZV Many groups of Aborigines suffer high levels of physical and mental stress, which appear to be casually linked (either directly or indirectly) to their domiciliary environment. Stress-related factors include lack of protection from the weather, living in squalor, crowding, alcoholism, domestic violence, widespread ill-health, insecurity DULVLQJ IURP WKH WHPSRUDULQHVV RI OLYLQJ FLUFXPVWDQFHV 2FFXSDQWV PD\ ¿QG LW YHU\ GLI¿FXOW WR HVFDSH IURP VXFK FLUFXPVWDQFHV HYHQ LI PRWLYDWHG WR GR VR GXH WR ODFN RI ¿QDQFH DQG FUHGLELOLW\ ZKLFK LQ WXUQ DULVHV IURP D ODFN RI HPSOR\PHQW DQG HGXFDWLRQ 4 This description is little different from the many case studies in Michael Heppel’s 1979 Black Reality: Aboriginal Camps and Housing in Remote Australia or the Introduction to the National Indigenous Housing framework of 1999, which stated that  LW LV QRZ HYLGHQW WKDW WKHUH DUH IXQGDPHQWDO SUREOHPV ZLWK WKH ZD\ KRXVHV IRU Indigenous people are designed and built, especially in the rural and remote regions of Australia.

Many houses are not culturally appropriate in their design. They are often poorly built, and there has been no systematic approach to their repair and maintenance.

Furthermore, building codes fail to address the particular requirements of Indigenous housing in rural and remote communities.5 7KH UHVXOW LV WKDW 0HPPRWWÂśV GHÂżQLWLRQ RI WKH SUREOHP LV VWLOO YDOLG DQG DSWO\ GHVFULEHV OLYLQJ conditions in even many of the more Indigenous successful communities today. For example, Yarrabah6 near Cairns is often seen as a success story in Indigenous housing management, but still has an average of more than ten persons per household7, with housing described as “the most critical issue confronting the Yarrabah communityâ€?. Indeed, Inadequate housing affects every aspect of community life: it affects children’s schooling, it affects residents’ health, it makes it harder for people to work, it reduces RSSRUWXQLWLHV WR VDYH PRQH\ LW LQĂ€DPHV WHQVLRQV EHWZHHQ IDPLOLHV DQG LW FUHDWHV conditions for substance abuse, violence and juvenile crime.8 In the wake of the social unrest in Indigenous communities in early 2006, Ministers for Housing and Indigenous Affairs from around Australia met in June to (once again) scope a way forward.

They agreed that 18,000 homes for Indigenous Australians needed to be built in the next three 4 Memmott, P. (1988) Aboriginal housing: The state of the art (or the non-state of the art), Architecture Australia, June, p. 34.

5

Commonwealth, State and Territory Housing Ministers’ Working Group on Indigenous Housing (1999) National Framework for the Design, Construction and Maintenance of Indigenous Housing, Department of Family and Community Services, Canberra, p. 1.

6

Wenham (2006) reports that “Yarrabah collects about $1 million per year in rent, has little in the way of rental arrears and its housing stock is well maintained by about 40 local tradesmen employed by the council.� See Wenham, M. (2006) Back to basics, The Courier Mail, 3-4 June. See also Mitchell, P. (2000) Yarrabah: A success story in community empowerment�, Australian Institute of Family Studies. On-line at KWWS ZZZ DLIV JRY DX \VS SXEV EXOO PLWFKHOO SGf. (Accessed 2 July 2006).

7

In Maningrida and Palm Island, two of the case study communities in this research, household sizes of 15 to 20 are not uncommon.

8

Wenham, op.cit. reHousing, Melbourne 2006

16

years and that an entirely new system for allocating indigenous housing would be developed.1 7KHLU RXWOLQH RI VXFK D QHZ V\VWHP SULPDULO\ IRFXVHV RQ LVVXHV RI JRYHUQDQFH DQG ÂżQDQFLQJ ZLWK D FHQWUDOL]DWLRQ RI UHVSRQVLELOLW\ LQ 6WDWH 7HUULWRU\ JRYHUQPHQWV DQG D UHGXFHG UROH IRU WKH Commonwealth and local community councils and housing cooperatives and groups.

7KLV SDSHU UHSRUWV RQ HDUO\ FRQFHSWXDO DQG ÂżHOG ZRUN LQ D SURMHFW WKDW VHHNV WR FRQWULEXWH WR WKLV new system by laying the groundwork for research into a new design system for the delivery, procurement and maintenance of Indigenous housing in remote Australia.2 7KLV LV VLJQLÂżFDQW because of the relationship between design and the appropriateness and quality of housing: 7KH UHVXOWV ÂŤ FOHDUO\ VKRZ D GLUHFW UHODWLRQVKLS EHWZHHQ WKH DPRXQW RI time spent on design and a satisfactory outcome. Best results, measured in terms of value for money, building performance and user satisfaction, are DFKLHYHG ZKHUH GHVLJQ LQSXW KDG EHHQ VLJQLÂżFDQW 3 A number of Indigenous housing agencies, community councils and architects have taken the opportunity for design to contribute to improved housing quality, respect customary practices and advance social well-being in remote Indigenous communities. This paper reviews the three broad approaches they have adopted by analysing both the design philosophy and practice characteristic of each one. The purpose of this review of “best practiceâ€? approaches is to illustrate ways in which architects sensitive to the socio-demographic, cultural, environmental and economic issues, are developing an effective design practice remote Indigenous housing. The paper concludes with a synthesis of the key features of these approaches into a draft ‘Ten Point Framework For Effective Design Practice’. Our research draws from both a review of the existing literature on the subject of Indigenous housing and also from a series of interviews with design practitioners, government and community agencies between June and July 2006.

House as Home Fallacy The cultural ideal of “house-as-homeâ€?, so common in most parts of the world and in non,QGLJHQRXV $XVWUDOLD LV QRW DOZD\V D VLJQLÂżFDQW SDUW RI ,QGLJHQRXV FXOWXUDO WUDGLWLRQV 7KXV OLYLQJ LQ D EXLOGLQJ FRPSULVHG RI FRQWLJXRXV VSDFHV URRPV HDFK ZLWK VSHFLÂżF IXQFWLRQV WKDW VDWLVI\ the physical and social needs of a nuclear family, is a relatively new experience – perhaps as new as one or two generations - for Indigenous Australians living in remote regions. Despite accommodating to many aspects of sedentary life, many Indigenous people retain a preference IRU OLYLQJ LQ Ă€H[LEOH PL[HG XVH VSDFHV LQVLGH D KRXVH XQGHU D YHUDQGD LQ WKH VSDFH VXUURXQGLQJ a house (the yard), and in the open spaces between houses. And, whether for reasons of cultural preference or the severe shortage of housing and resultant over-crowding, many Indigenous KRXVHKROGV UHTXLUH VXIÂżFLHQW VSDFH WR DFFRPPRGDWH DQ H[WHQGHG IDPLO\ &XOWXUDO WUDGLWLRQV in some communities require separate living areas for special groups, e.g. young men, thus increasing the complexity of housing provision that must be made. The development of outstations as homes for small family groups on traditional lands adds to the complexity of indigenous housing patterns.

Thus, as in research by Lee and Morris, the concept of housing is extended in our study to include what is generally encompassed in the term “built environment� to describe “all aspects of the 1

Karvelas, P. and Wilson, A. (2006) Revamp for Aboriginal housing, The Weekend Australian, 17-18 June. The VRXUFH RI WKH ÂżJXUH RI QHZ KRPHV LV QRW JLYHQ +RZHYHU 7KH 6WDQGLQJ &RPPLWWHH RQ ,QGLJHQRXV +RXVLQJ 6&,+ KDV estimated that by 2009, there will be a need for 7,600 homes in remote Australia and 10,400 in urban areas to satisfy Indigenous housing needs, making a total of 18,000.

2

The project is being conducted under the 2006 research agenda of the Australian Housing and Urban research

Institute.

3

See The Architects Studio (2000) Living Spaces - Post Occupancy Evaluation: NT Remote Community Housing.

Unpublished report to ATSIC and IHANT, p. 10. reHousing, Melbourne 2006

17

physical environment, including the social, cultural and environmental attributes of placesâ€? not only dwellings but also open space, infrastructure and community services. All need to be considered in relation to the design needs for dwellings.4 Design Approaches 7KH UHVXOWV ÂŤ FOHDUO\ VKRZ D GLUHFW UHODWLRQVKLS EHWZHHQ WKH DPRXQW RI time spent on design and a satisfactory outcome. Best results, measured in terms of value for money, building performance and user satisfaction, are DFKLHYHG ZKHUH GHVLJQ LQSXW KDG EHHQ VLJQLÂżFDQW 5 A number of Indigenous housing agencies, community councils and architects have taken the opportunity for design to contribute to improved housing quality, respect customary practices and advance social well-being in remote Indigenous communities. This paper reviews the three broad approaches they have adopted by analysing both the design philosophy and practice characteristic of each one. The purpose of this review of “best practiceâ€? approaches is to illustrate ways in which architects sensitive to the socio-demographic, cultural, environmental and economic issues, are developing an effective design practice remote Indigenous housing. The paper concludes with a synthesis of the key features of these approaches into a draft ‘Ten Point Framework For Effective Design Practice’. Our research draws from both a review of the existing literature on the subject of Indigenous housing and also from a series of interviews with design practitioners, government and community agencies between June and July 2006.

There are three (mutually compatible) approaches that currently frame a debate on the design of Indigenous Housing in Australia, according to Paul Memmott (2004:46). The lines between each approach are in fact very blurred and often overlap in the need to design both culturally appropriate and cost effective housing for remote Indigenous communities; often a seemingly impossible task. These approaches are the (1) The ‘Cultural Design’ approach, (2) The ‘Environmental Health’ approach and The ‘Housing as Process’ approach.

The ‘Cultural Design’ approach 7KH ÂżUVW DSSURDFK RI Âľ&XOWXUDO 'HVLJQÂś IUDPHG E\ 3DXO 0HPPRWW6, (anthropologist and architect) is based on the belief that the study of Aboriginal domiciliary behaviour, must underpin a more effective understanding of Aboriginal housing needs. As Memmott comments, “The premise of this paradigm is that to competently design appropriate residential accommodation for Aboriginal people who have traditionally oriented lifestyles, architects must understand the nature of those lifestyles, particularly in the domiciliary contextâ€? (Memmott 2004: 46). Memmott’s ‘Cultural Design’ approach also has implications for how consultation should be undertaken with Indigenous communities. For example, is it is critical to observe and record how Aboriginal individuals and JURXSV FXUUHQWO\ XVH WKHLU GZHOOLQJ VSDFHV EHIRUH GHVLJQLQJ DOWHUQDWLYH FRQÂżJXUDWLRQV RI VSDFH (that might appear more rational to the architect) or be capable of designing the house in a more FRVW HIÂżFLHQW ZD\ Other architects such as Shaneen Fantin also write about the need for a more detailed cultural understanding of Aboriginal living spaces in the design of Indigenous housing. Fantin points out “the designer might imbue architecture with Aboriginal Identity through client involvement and authorisation through respecting Aboriginal social practices and revering existing places 4

Lee, V. and Morris, D. (2005) Best Practice Models for Effective Consultation Towards Improving Built Environment Outcomes for Remote Indigenous Communities, AHURI Final Report. p. 1.

5 6

The Architects Studio (2000), op. cit., p. 10.

See Memmott, P. (1998) “Aboriginal Housing; The State of the art or non state of the art�, Architecture Australia, June 1988 pp34 -47 reHousing, Melbourne 2006

18

and historiesâ€? 1. Architects such as Julian and Barbara Wigley have used their understanding RI GRPLFLOLDU\ EHKDYLRXU SDWWHUQV LQ WKHLU VSHFLÂżF GHVLJQ VROXWLRQV IRU ,QGLJHQRXV KRXVLQJ 2QH H[DPSOH RI HPEHGGLQJ WKLV VSHFLÂżF FXOWXUDO GHVLJQ DSSURDFK LQWR GHVLJQ SUDFWLFH ZDV :LJOH\ÂśV 1976-77 plans for Town Camp housing in Alice Springs where the term ‘camp’ is used to describe D QXPEHU RI SRWHQWLDO LQWHUFRQQHFWHG HOHPHQWV WKH ÂżUH RU KHDUWK DQ LQGLYLGXDO GRPHVWLF OLYLQJ DUHD WKH VKHOWHU RI D GZHOOLQJ RU JURXS DOO RI ZKLFK UHĂ€HFW WKH VSHFLÂżF H[LVWLQJ GRPLFLOLDU\ behaviour of the future users of the Town Camp housing.2 The ‘Environmental Health’ approach The Environmental Health approach, more commonly known as ‘HealtHabitat’ or ‘Housing for Health’, was originally developed by Paul Pholeros (architect), Paul Torzillo (medical doctor) and Steph Rainow (anthropologist). Their approach is based upon the need to address the problematic environmental health practices typically associated with poorly designed and constructed Indigenous housing, caused by a range of issues including overcrowding and poor sanitation.

The HealtHabitat group emerged from a study in 1986 with Nganampa Health Council (in the AP Lands in South Australia) by Pholeros, Torzillo and Rainer and sponsored by the South Australian Government. Memmott states this study of the AP Lands (more commonly known as ‘the UPK Report’3 ZDV ÂľWKH ÂżUVW WKDW V\VWHPDWLFDOO\ LVRODWHG DQG FDVXDOO\ OLQNHG FRPSOH[HV RI KHDOWK problems with sets of design features, and then ranked them into a set of priorities based on the likelihood of improving health standards’4.

After the Nganampa study, HealtHabitat developed a series of guidelines, the ‘Nine Healthy Living Practices’, that indicated how key housing issues of safety, health, quality control and sustainability could be integrated with practical principles for implementation of housing. The technical issues such as electricity, plumbing and water quality in Aboriginal housing, which VXSSRUW +HDOW+DELWDWÂśV QLQH KHDOWK\ OLYLQJ SUDFWLFHV ZHUH ODWHU GHYHORSHG LQWR WKH ÂżUVW HGLWLRQ RI the National Indigenous Housing Guide (NIHG) (1999).

In 2003, HealtHabitat’s approach to improving the environmental health of Indigenous Housing developed into a national program called “Fixing Houses for Better Healthâ€? (FHBH), originally funded by ATSIC. The FHBH program aimed to make urgent safety and health hardware repairs to existing housing and surrounding living areas such as backyards and was underpinned by a clear philosophy of ‘no survey without service’. HealtHabitat’s strategy is not particularly focused RQ GHVLJQLQJ QHZ KRXVLQJ LQ ,QGLJHQRXV VHWWOHPHQWV EXW PRUH RQ PDLQWDLQLQJ DQG Âż[LQJ H[LVWLQJ housing. HealtHabitat’s most recent projects include employing local Indigenous people on every SURMHFW WR HQVXUH ORFDO SHRSOH UHFHLYH ÂłRQ WKH WRROV´ WUDLQLQJ DERXW WHVWLQJ DQG Âż[LQJ PLQRU ZRUN on community houses, and using standardised tests to collect detailed data which contributes to a growing stock of information about housing faults and issues. In 2004-05 alone, the FHBH SURJUDP ÂľDVVHVVHG DQG Âż[HG KHDOWK KDUGZDUH LQ KRXVHV LQ FRPPXQLWLHV IRU D FRVW RI $3million’.5 The ‘Housing as Process’ Approach 1

Fantin, S. (2003) “Aboriginal identities in architecture: how might architecture interpret cultural identity�?

Architecture Australia 6HSWHPEHU 2FWREHU SS

2

See Wigley, J. and Wigley, B (2003) Remote conundrums: The changing role of housing in Aboriginal communities, in Memmott, P. ed., Take 2: Housing Design in Indigenous Australia, Royal Australian Institute of Architects, Canberra, p. 22

3

Pholeros P, Rainow S & Torzillo P (1993), Housing for Health: Towards a Healthy Living Environment for Aboriginal Australia, Healthabitat, Newport Beach, New South Wales.

4

Memmott, P. (1998) Aboriginal Housing, the State of the Art (or the Non-State of the Art), Architecture Australia,

June, pp. 34-47

5

McPeake, T. and Pholeros, P. (2005) Fixing Houses for Better Health in Remote Communities. Paper to National Housing Conference 2005, p. 6. reHousing, Melbourne 2006

19

The ‘Housing as Process’ approach extends Memmott’s cultural design approach by taking into DFFRXQW D FRPPXQLW\ÂśV ORFDO KRXVLQJ VSHFLÂżF PDQDJHPHQW DQG UHJLRQDO SODQQLQJ FDSDFLWLHV Proponents of this approach include a range of architects who have designed housing projects in remote communities in the Northern Territory and Western Australia including Paul Haar, Geoff Barker and Simon Scally.

In the ‘Housing as Process’ approach, the process of determining an appropriate design process for aboriginal clients is seen a part of a larger cyclical process from housing consultation to housing delivery. Geoff Barker (2003:98-105) sees a “community contextâ€? cycle delivering successful Indigenous housing when the following (not always sequential) steps are undertaken by architects: • • • • • • •

Determining the client brief through extensive consultation about existing cultural issues and local histories Determining the planning and funding arrangements Addressing sustainability issues (including the availability of resident support services Taking into account siting issues, such as solar orientation and sight lines Working out the availability of construction materials and building technologies Addressing procurement and construction issues Ensuring that management and maintenance of housing is taken into account in the original cost planning budgets.

There are many built examples of the ‘Housing as Process’ approach. One such project includes Paul Haar’s ‘Mt Catt Homeland Centre in the Northern Territory’ (1985). This project involved sourcing, where available, the building materials from the local bush and involving the local community in the planning and construction of their camp facilities, communal wet season shelters and provision of infrastructure requirements such as water and closed storage spaces.

Haar comments that in developing design for these remote Indigenous communities, ‘one cannot underestimate the value of remote communities to appropriate their own dwelling experience to design, construct and take pride in their own homes, and again to embrace housing as a symbol of the self’6.

A Framework for Effective Design Practice While our comparative examination of remote Indigenous housing is still very much in progress (due for completion early 2007), we have begun to examine the design of Indigenous Housing as a complex and highly unpredictable process that could be mapped across ten major phases.

This cycle begins with initial discussions about aspirations for a building project, and the feasibility of them, and extends through various and multiple stages of consultation with clients, drawing and revising concept and detailed plans, responding to quantity surveyors’ reports and FRVW HVWLPDWHV VSHFLI\LQJ PDWHULDOV DQG ¿WWLQJV SURMHFW SODQQLQJ FRQVWUXFWLRQ PDQDJHPHQW developing a maintenance schedule and post-occupancy evaluation. The ten points and associated details in this framework for effective design practice include: 1. Establish Project Protocols

x

x

Meet with authorities and community representatives to determine project brief including funding, regulations, resource needs, time frames of construction cycle and accountability requirements.

Determine availability of a local person to work as a partner in all consultation and construction phases

6

Paul Haar, Community Building and Housing Process in Memmott, P. (2003) Take 2: Housing Design in Indigenous Australia, Royal Australian Institute of Architects, Canberra p.90 reHousing, Melbourne 2006

20

2. Awareness of Cultural Issues

x

Identify and collaborate with the local community in building local knowledge of the identity, place, history and culture of WKH VSHFLÂżF FOLHQW JURXS LQFOXGLQJ DYRLGDQFH SUDFWLFHV DQG WKH QHHG IRU VXUYHLOODQFH VLJKW OLQHV

3. Household Make-up

x

Determine internal circulation and functional relationships (room sizes, allocation of wet areas, bedroom and kitchen spaces, storage requirements) according to who will be using house over what period of time and according to what season.

This may include investigating any extended family or gender issues, disability issues, and access to external service.

x

4. External Spaces

x

Determine the need for veranda, yard spaces, perimeter IHQFHV H[WHUQDO FRRNLQJ VSDFH V WDNLQJ DFFRXQW RI KHDOWK and safety requirements) and the use of any existing structures on the site.

5. Develop and Consult on Options for Concept Design

x

Present schematic plan options and 3-D physical models of SURSRVDO V ,GHQWLI\ DQG FRQÂżUP VSDFH QHHGV DQG FXOWXUDO LVVXHV DQG any constraints with community and household members through drawings and diagrams

x

6. Sustainability

x

x x

Investigate appropriate building materials, solar power and heating waste water technologies and appropriate climatic responses and culturally appropriate design considerations.

Investigate possibility of local building contractors and work teams. * Find out about existing resident support services, community social services and access to public transport (if it exists)

7. Review and Revisions

x

Determine user response to design proposal and revisions to siting of building and internal and external circulation layouts

8. Documentation

x

Document the project thoroughly and organise tender bids with client.

9. Education and Training

x

Consider potential of local contractors and the involvement of training programs for community members in the building process Determine whether education is needed for client group regarding household technologies such as use of hot water systems, smoke alarms etc.

x

10. Post-Occupancy Evaluation

x

Undertake a POE every 18 months to monitor ongoing maintenance needs, environmental health requirements, cost information and response of the building to user needs.

Indeterminate Situations Our research across remote communities in the Northern Territory, Queensland and South $XVWUDOLD FOHDUO\ GHPRQVWUDWHV WKDW WKHUH DUH QR TXLFN Âż[ VROXWLRQV WR SURYLGLQJ D PRUH HIIHFWLYH process for the procurement and design of remote Indigenous housing.

In a similar way, Donald SchĂśn argues that designers do not deal with well-formed problems in much of their daily work but with, as puts it, “messy, indeterminate situationsâ€?.1 This is certainly the case in designing for Indigenous housing in remote areas which calls for the development of a design system or framework that integrates the multidisciplinary mix of political, geographical, cultural, anthropological, historical, psychological, sociological, health, architectural, engineering, economic, landscaping and legal aspects of Indigenous housing into a transdisciplinary response to a family or group’s needs for shelter, security, health and well-being.

Thus, the process of designing a house – or any structure - is not limited to the act of drawing plans to shape and guide construction. Issues of form and aesthetics are important in design, as 1 Schon, D. (1983) 7KH 5HÀHFWLYH 3UDFWLWLRQHU +RZ 3URIHVVLRQDOV 7KLQN LQ $FWLRQ, Basic Books, New York. reHousing, Melbourne 2006

21

are responsiveness to the physical environment and local cultural experiences and expectations.

These aspects of design make it an art form but design is also a social and technical process.

Indeed, it is a complex cycle that begins with initial discussions about aspirations and the feasibility of them for a building project and extends through the various and multiple stages of consultation with clients, drawing and revising concept and detailed plans, responding to quantity surveyors’ UHSRUWV DQG FRVW HVWLPDWHV VSHFLI\LQJ PDWHULDOV DQG ¿WWLQJV SURMHFW SODQQLQJ FRQVWUXFWLRQ management, developing a maintenance schedule and post-occupancy evaluation.

7KH FRQFHSWXDOLVLQJ RI D Ă€H[LEOH IUDPHZRUN RI GHVLJQ JXLGHOLQHV Âą RU D ÂłGHVLJQ V\VWHP´ LQ RXU AHURI project attempts to encompass multiple aspects of the complex, consultation-conceptconstruction cycle, towards providing a more effective platform for the design of remote Indigenous Housing. The investigation of such a design system is an urgent one given the desperate and declining living conditions of many Indigenous Australians and also in recognising that housing is far more, as Peter Newman suggests, than just providing a ‘roof overhead’2.

2

Newman, Peter (2002) Sustainability and Housing: More than a Roof Over head. Text of the 2002 Barnett Oration, Melbourne, October 2002.

reHousing, Melbourne 2006

22

New Procurements in Germany * Rochus Hinkel In this paper I will present a case study of procurement pertaining between a city council, developers and architects. The project in question aimed to ensure high quality urban developments while creating one of the biggest passive-housing settlements in Germany. The socalled passive-house standard is the highest current energy standard in Germany.

The region around Stuttgart is one of the densest in Germany and Europe and suffers a shortage of affordable new housing developments. The city council of Esslingen am Neckar, a sub-center in the region of Stuttgart and about a half hour car drive from Stuttgart in Baden-Wuerttemberg, VWDUWHG GHYHORSLQJ ZKDW LV FDOOHG WKH ³6RQQHQVLHGOXQJ LP (JHUW´ LQ (VVOLQJHQ =HOO LQ -XO\ The development aimed to provide new housing for young families to keep them within the city boundaries so as to counterbalance an increasingly aging community.

I will discuss the process and associated administrative bodies established by the city council, which represent the political will to ensure a high urban and architectural quality, combined with the highest energy standards currently in place in Germany. As a point of comparison I will also elaborate on some statistics that display the distinctions between German and Australian housing.

I will argue that the above process, initiated by a government body, is an excessive but successful example how a high quality development addressing urban, architectural, and ecological issues, can be achieved.

*This paper has been blind refereed by academic peers appointed by the conference committe according to DEST standards.

reHousing, Melbourne 2006

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Context The project ‘Sonnensiedlung Im Egert’ is a new settlement located at the outer edge of the city Esslingen am Neckar, in the suburb Zell, in the so-called ‘Region Stuttgart’ in Germany. The UHJLRQÂśV ÂżQDQFLDO SROLWLFDO DQG FXOWXUDO FHQWUH LV WKH &LW\ RI 6WXWWJDUW ZKLFK LV DOVR WKH FDSLWDO RI the south-western state Baden-Wuerttemberg. The city council responsible for the development is Esslingen am Neckar, a sub-centre in the region of Stuttgart and about a half hour car drive from Stuttgart. The council started developing what is called the ‘Sonnensiedlung Im Egert’ in Esslingen-Zell in July 2000. The chosen site is located in the same neighbourhood as a national park and sits above the valley of the river Neckar. It includes more than 100 houses with about 200 units, mainly consisting of rowhouses, but also including a number of single houses, atrium houses, and two apartment blocks. The development is supposed to provide new housing for young families to keep them within the city of Esslingen boundaries so as to counterbalance an increasingly aging community. As an aging community leads to a decrease in tax income for a city, by attracting young families the city’s income promises to increase. At the same time there are ÂżQDQFLDO EHQHÂżWV IRU WKH IDPLOLHV DV WKH\ DUH VXSSRUWHG E\ WKH FLW\ FRXQFLO WKURXJK D UHIXQG RQ WKH land price of about 2 000 Euro per child.

The ‘Region Stuttgart’, also known as Metropolitan Stuttgart, comprises more than 170 local authorities and is one of the densest regions in Germany. With 2.6 million inhabitants on 3650 km2 (an average of 730 inhabitants per km2), it is double as dense as the Melbourne Metropolitan area with 8806 sqkm and 3.2 million people.1 It is also one of the richest regions within Germany, with a high employment rate endorsed through numerous companies, like DaimlerChrysler, IBM, Porsche, Hewlett-Packard and Robert Bosch; all of whom have their German or world headquarters there; in total about 150 000 companies are operating within ‘Region Stuttgart’.

Within the region the perennial question remains, how can further settlement be established and planned? The economic strength the region generates, in combination with a constant increase RI WKH DYHUDJH ÀRRU DUHD SHU LQKDELWDQW D GHPDQG IRU QHZ KRXVLQJ GHYHORSPHQWV 2 On the other hand, a generally moderate population growth of 5% since 1980, together with average German EXLOGLQJ FRQVWUXFWLRQ FRVWV RI Ÿ 3 and a strongly developed rental market,4 sustain high competition within the housing market.

A long history of industrial development in and around Esslingen am Neckar established quite large areas of industrial zones in proximity with urban centres. The varied topography, which makes development inappropriate in some areas, and zones of protected nature, together with the DIRUHPHQWLRQHG KLJK GHQVLW\ PHDQV WKDW QHZ VXEXUEDQ GHYHORSPHQWV DUH TXLWH UDUH DQG GLIÂżFXOW to realize. For a long time many cities in Germany only framed their urban design schemes with major urban design moves, reducing them to a general infrastructure and plan layout, mostly with low density and a singular typology, the single (detached) house on a quite big piece of land. $V PRVW *HUPDQ FLWLHV ÂżQG WKH\ KDYH WR ZRUN ZLWK ORZ RU QRQH[LVWHQW EXGJHWV DQ DJLQJ population makes future developments for settling young families within city boundaries even more necessary. The lack of land for settlements within city boundaries forces cities to reconsider their traditional urban planning process and to ensure in the long term more sustainable developments.

The Urban Development Framework In the development ‘Sonnensiedlung Im Egert’ in Esslingen-Zell the city council addresses the critical issues described above with respect to housing development in combination with the endorsement of ecological sustainability. This includes the highest energy standard in place in Germany, the so-called ‘passive-house’, solutions for how to collect and store rainwater on site, and also ensuring the planting of indigenous trees and bushes for the local wildlife. In addition, the city council wanted not only to develop the urban design framework, but intended to control the architectural outcome of the new development. It therefore ‘curated’ a complex process, starting with an urban design competition in July 2000, followed by the jury announcing the outcome of the reHousing, Melbourne 2006

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competition in January 2001.

More and more German cities have begun to not only frame their planning by an urban design scheme, but to establish a framework and process which allows a constant control of the urban and the architectural outcome of new developments. The very pragmatic building practice in the early years following World War II, has likely created an awareness that future urban development has to be carefully planned, curated and controlled.5 One of the new strategies and major points is that cities try to own the major development sites themselves and therefore maintain the capacity to be in control of the actual planning of developments.

In the project ‘Sonnensiedlung Im Egert’ the city owned the whole site and established a long process with a number of regulative tools. First the city council announced a European-wide urban design competition, which commenced with a selection process to allow participation. Already in this early stage a ‘low energy’ concept had to be demonstrated. The result of the urban design competition was then presented to the public. The scheme faced strong controversy amongst the direct neighbours and political parties, partially because of its location next to a nature reserve.

Most German cities have in their original settlement a relatively high density. Nevertheless, post-war suburbs are of a very low density. In 1990 only 28% of the dwellings in Germany were detached houses.6 In comparison, in the Australian context 79% were detached dwellings. We see here that the ratio is almost reversed in the different contexts of Australia and Germany.7 In Germany such detached houses are primarily to be found in post-war suburbs, where single houses sit on a large piece of land, often larger, for instance, than in Australian suburbs. In just the last 10-20 years the land size has reduced, due mainly to an increase in land value, especially in metropolitan areas. And this is where most of the building construction is happening.

With the case study project in question the urban design scheme develops what is almost another small suburb, with its own urban spatial experience. It achieves this by lining terrace houses and apartment blocks along the main road, and giving smaller streets a more private character. The whole development is too small to sustain shops and other public infrastructure. Currently there is not even a bus stop planned in the near future, leaving young families dependent on private transport.

The Urban Development Process 7KH ZLQQHU RI WKH FRPSHWLWLRQ GHYHORSHG DQ XUEDQ GHVLJQ IUDPHZRUN WKDW KDG WR FOHDUO\ GHÂżQH WKH energy standards, the water management and the landscape. Parallel with the normal process RI GHÂżQLQJ WKH XUEDQ GHVLJQ VFKHPH WKH FLW\ DQQRXQFHG D ERDUG WKH VR FDOOHG Âś*HVWDOWEHLUDWÇĽ 7KH Âś*HVWDOWEHLUDWÇĽ FRQVLVWHG RI WKH FKDLU RI WKH MXU\ WZR RWKHU PHPEHUV RI WKH MXU\ WKH XUEDQ designers themselves, the energy and landscape planners, representatives of the political parties DQG NH\ ÂżJXUHV LQ WKH SODQQLQJ GHSDUWPHQWV RI WKH FLW\ LQ WRWDO D JURXS RI PRUH WKDQ SHRSOH They moderated a process of design development between potential developers, architects, the urban designer and the various planning departments. The board advised the city council as well as controlled the whole design process through a series of workshops involving all of the above.

The whole development was divided into 21 blocks of 6-8 buildings. The two apartment blocks constituted a block in their own right. The division of blocks intended to make the future development accessible for small and medium size developers, also allowing major developers to apply for several blocks. The city council contacted developers in the region as well as architects who had been involved in the competition or had a reputation in sustainable housing design.

A public announcement was also made in the local newspapers and relevant magazines. An information session was organized in September 2003, explaining the urban design scheme and, PRUH LPSRUWDQWO\ WKH VSHFLÂżF IXWXUH SURFHVV IRU LQWHUHVWHG GHYHORSHUV DQG DUFKLWHFWV $ FDOO IRU applications was announced. Developers were asked to apply in conjunction with an architect.

Architects could also apply as representatives of so-called ‘Building Communities’. A ‘Building reHousing, Melbourne 2006

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Community’ is composed of one or more architects joining forces with future homeowners in order to realize an entire block together. In this conglomeration the architect would represent the ‘Building Community’. This model allows private homeowners to be able to achieve lower building costs by coordinating their individual house with others in the building process. This enables them to get better offers from building contractors, simply because of the larger contract size. The city FRXQFLO VXSSRUWHG WKLV SURFHVV WKURXJK RUJDQL]LQJ DQG SURPRWLQJ D SXEOLF KRXVLQJ IDLU VSHFLÂżFDOO\ for this project, during which everyone involved in the development could present their design to potential homeowners In the application architects had to demonstrate their quality of architectural design through SURMHFWV DQG GHYHORSHUV KDG WR FODULI\ WKHLU QRUPDO SRUWIROLR DV ZHOO DV WKHLU ÂżQDQFLDO FRPSHWHQFH $ SURÂżOH LQ KRXVLQJ DQG VXVWDLQDEOH GHVLJQ KDG WR EH GHPRQVWUDWHG E\ ERWK WKH DUFKLWHFWV DQG the developers. Both also had to come forward with a concept of how they planned to realize their ÂśEXLOGLQJ EORFNÇĽ $IWHU WKH ÂżUVW URXQG RI DSSOLFDWLRQV WKH VHOHFWHG WHDPV KDG WR FRPSHWH ZLWK DQRWKHU WHDP RQ RQH or two of the blocks they applied for, presenting a fairly developed pre-design proposal. Based on WKDW SURSRVDO WKH Âś*HVWDOWEHLUDWÇĽ VHOHFWHG WKHLU ÂżUVW SUHIHUHQFH NHHSLQJ WKH VHFRQG SUHIHUHQFH RQ KROG LQ FDVH WKH ÂżUVW SUHIHUHQFH SXOOHG RXW GXULQJ WKH SURFHVV )ROORZLQJ WKLV VHOHFWLRQ SURFHVV WKH ÂżUVW ZRUNVKRS FRPPHQFHG LQ -XO\ IROORZHG E\ DQRWKHU WKUHH ZRUNVKRSV ZLWKLQ D WZR month period, with the last and fourth workshop in January 2005. The workshops were to clarify and discuss the design within its urban design scheme framework, and, if necessary, to readjust the scheme in the process of discussing some of the parameters. In those workshops the ‘Gestaltbeirat’ moderated the whole design process, discussed the design and had the right to offer advice and ask for further development of the architecture. Each workshop was followed by D ZULWWHQ UHSRUW DQG FULWLFDO DGYLFH ,Q GLIÂżFXOW FDVHV WKH ERDUG HYHQ KDG WKH ULJKW WR H[FOXGH DQ DUFKLWHFW DQG RU GHYHORSHU LI WKH\ ZRXOG QRW DGGUHVV LVVXHV LQ VHYHUDO ZRUNVKRS VHVVLRQV WKH Âś*HVWDOWEHLUDWÇĽ WKHQ VLPSO\ GHQLHG WKHLU DSSURYDO IRU WKH EXLOGLQJ SHUPLVVLRQ %XLOGLQJ SHUPLVVLRQ was only granted if the board approved the design, the landscape design and the energy concept IRU WKH VSHFLÂżF EORFN 7KH\ ZRXOG WKHQ UHFRPPHQG WKH GHVLJQ IRU EXLOGLQJ SHUPLVVLRQ VLJQLQJ of the design drawings. These design drawings then became a legal document. The actual EXLOGLQJ ZRXOG KDYH WR UHĂ€HFW WKH GHVLJQ DSSURYDO 7R HQIRUFH WKLV HYHU\ GHYHORSHU DQG Âľ%XLOGLQJ &RPPXQLW\Âś KDG WR PDNH D JXDUDQW\ RI Âź SHU EORFN 7KLV DPRXQW ZRXOG QRW EH UHWXUQHG LI the building did not follow the design scheme and energy standard agreed upon.

The Energy Standard and Building Costs As mentioned above, the other crucial aspect of the whole development was its ecological sustainability. The ‘passive-house’ standard is the highest energy standard currently in place in *HUPDQ\ EXW RQ WKH JLYHQ VLWH FRXOG QRW EH LPSOHPHQWHG GXH WR WKH XUEDQ GHVLJQ DQG RU WKH topography for more than about half of the buildings. All the other buildings had to follow the socalled ‘KfW 40’ standard instead. The ‘KfW 40’ standard requires that a building does not exceed the maximum of the yearly energy consumption facilitated by primary-energy resources, that is, QRW PRUH WKDQ N:K SHU VTP 7KH ÂľSDVVLYH KRXVHÂś VWDQGDUG RQO\ DOORZV WKH XVH RI N:K P D FRPSDUHG WR WKH DYHUDJH RI N:K P D XVHG E\ D W\SLFDO GHWDFKHG KRXVH EXLOW LQ WKH 1960s.8 This is quite a technical achievement contributing to a better ecology as well as reducing annual energy expenses. Nevertheless, to achieve this standard a higher investment in the initial building process has to be made. Such a standard increases the building costs by about 10-15%.

The energy consultant of the city calculated an increase of only 5%-7%, but at this point in time this estimation can be described as unrealistic. For both standards funding is available from the government, but this does not compensate for the total increase in building costs, leaving the average homeowner with about 10%, or 20 000 - 25 000 euro, of additional costs.

During the process several developers began to question the process and the realisation of the ZKROH GHYHORSPHQW XQGHU WKH JLYHQ FRQGLWLRQV 7KH ÂżQDQFLDO SUHVVXUHV DVVRFLDWHG ZLWK WKH KLJK reHousing, Melbourne 2006

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energy standard led some developers to hope that the city would lower the standards or else the SULFH RI WKH ODQG 7KH ODQG SULFH KDG EHHQ ¿[HG E\ WKH FLW\ DW Ÿ P UHÀHFWLQJ WKH UHJLRQDO average for similar locations. But due to the higher energy standard the average homeowner would have to face higher building expenses. The land price contributed to the estimated building costs of a detached house on about 330 m2 of land by another 150 000 euro, pushing the prices to around 450 000 euro for one house with about 140 m2. Due to their smaller size of about 110 m2, terrace houses on almost the same area of land were estimated to cost about 100 000 euros less. The question was asked as to whether it was the city’s responsibility to lower the land price in order to compensate for the expenses incurred by a higher energy standard. Does one have to be able to afford sustainability enforced by a city council?

Conclusion As one of the practices involved in the process, I can report that for most developers the involved process was too time consuming, setting them, in their point of view, too many boundaries in terms of standards, architecture and technology. Developers attempted to leave it up to the architects WR GHDO ZLWK WKH SHUFHLYHG ÂľLQHIÂżFLHQF\Âś RI WKH LQYROYHG GHVLJQ SURFHVV DQG RIWHQ VXFFHHGHG Because of the uncertainty of the process developers tended to ask architects to share the risks of development. Nevertheless, as an architect, I believe in the ethical value of the project. I found it important to support such a development, and saw great value in the challenge of being involved.

Through my involvement I‘ve been enabled to establish another area of expertise and even discover a new aspect for my practice. As architects we are often idealists. We do not tend to be EXVLQHVVSHRSOH ZKR LQYHVW LQ D SRVVLEOH SURMHFW PHUHO\ IRU WKH VDNH RI LWV ÂżQDQFLDO VXFFHVV 7KH UHDOLVDWLRQ RI WKH ÂżUVW EXLOGLQJ JURXS FRPSRVHG RI IRXU RXW RI D WRWDO RI WZHQW\ RQH EORFNV FRPPHQFHG LQ )HEUXDU\ DQG FRQVWUXFWLRQ LWVHOI EHJDQ WKDW -XO\ &XUUHQWO\ WKH ÂżUVW EXLOGLQJV are in the midst of being completed. Hopefully further building activity will likewise commence in the near future. Normally such a challenge is too great and cities succumb to the pressures of ÂżQDQFLDO ULVNV 7KLV LV DQ H[DPSOH RI DQ DUFKLWHFWXUDO DQG XUEDQ KRXVLQJ SODQ ZKHUH D FLW\ GRHV QRW compromise its beliefs with respect to a suitable density for housing and an appropriate response to environmental concerns.

KWWS ZZZ PHOERXUQH YLF JRY DX LQIR FIP"WRS SJ

7KH DYHUDJH VTXDUH PHWHU ÀRRU VSDFH SHU LQKDELWDQW UDLVHG LQ *HUPDQ\ IURP DURXQG P LQ WR DOPRVW P in 2000, with an average size per dwelling of 114 m2.

3 National Board of Housing, Building and Planning Sweden, Ministry for Regional Development of the Czech Republic, eds, Housing Statistics in the European Union 2004 (Boverket, Sweden: 2005).

4 55% of dwellings are in the German rental market. Only 45% are occupied by their owners. See Housing Statistics in the European Union 2004.

5 Almost 50% of the dwelling stock has been build in the 25 years after the end of World War II. See Housing Statistics in the European Union 2004.

6 Statistisches Landesamt Baden-Wßrttemberg, ifs Institut fßr Städtebau, Wohnungswirtschaft und Bausparwesen H 9 %RQQ *UD¿N ,6/ Institut fßr Städtebau und Landesplanung, Universität Karlsruhe (TH) 2003 KWWS ZZZ UHKRXVLQJ UPLW HGX DX V\QRSVLV KWPO

'DV (QHUJLHNRQ]HSW KWWS ZZZ HVVOLQJHQ GH VHUYOHW 3% PHQX LQGH[ KWPO

Rochus Urban Hinkel is a practising architect, academic and curator, and has lectured and held workshops in Europe, Northern America and Australia.

Until 2005 he was a principal of hinkel&schmitt architekten, where he developed a series of housing projects the most recent of which were focused on sustainability. reHousing, Melbourne 2006

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City Centre Esslingen

Im Egert

image 1: aerial view of site location (source: City of Esslingen, 2004)

image 2: urban design model (source: City of Esslingen, 2004)

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image 3: urban development framework (so-called B-plan) (source: City of Esslingen, 2004)

image 4: urban development framework (so-called B-plan) in detail (source: City of Esslingen, 2004) reHousing, Melbourne 2006

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competition results appointment of

urban design scheme

advisory board

press release

urban design

inviting developers

framework (B-plan)

information session

infrastructure planning

developer’s application site selection

infrastructure

of developers

workshops 1-X

building permits

building construction

VSHFLÂżF SURFHVV LPSOHPHQWHG by the city council

image 5: process scheme (source: Author, based on diagram by the City of Esslingen, 2004)

reHousing, Melbourne 2006

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image 6: the site partitions (source: City of Esslingen, 2004)

‘passive-house’ standard ‘kfW 40’ standard

image 7: the energy standard (source: City of Esslingen, 2004) reHousing, Melbourne 2006

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Pastime Lucinda Mclean This paper will present ongoing research into post war beach houses and the settlements between Somers and Flinders on Westernport Bay, focusing on the everyday beach house rather than the one-off, architect designed house.

3RVW ZDU EHDFK KRXVHV DUH JHQHUDOO\ VPDOO ZLWK HI¿FLHQW SODQV DQG VWUXFWXUH SURYLGLQJ PLQLPDO DQG ÀH[LEOH DFFRPPRGDWLRQ IRU ÀXFWXDWLQJ IDPLO\ DQG YLVLWRU QXPEHUV DQG XQ SURJUDPPHG LQWHULRU DQG exterior spaces allowing for a range of leisure activities. Some houses are architect designed project homes or kit homes, sometimes having had some architectural input to modify or site a standard plan. Many houses have grown in an accumulative manner over time in response to changing family activities and particular site qualities. Siting of houses is often in relation to the landscape where the house is part of an extending landscape, in an unfenced lot, amongst vegetation continuous across lots, and with ambiguous and multiple entry points from external spaces into the house.

Research includes detailed case studies of individual houses, with the preparation of measured drawings of the house and site, the recording of the history of the house, and analysis of the changing use of the house and site over time. From these case studies, observations of the relationship between the house and extending landscape have been studied in detail to determine the very particular spatial qualities of these houses and beach side settlements.

In addition to the recognition and recording of the architectural, historical and cultural value of these houses, the research aims to establish an understanding of the house as an inhabitation and stewardship of landscape, where leisure is productive rather than consumptive. This is vital if we are to propose alternatives to the unsustainable development and destruction of the fragile coastal environment seen in recent years, and to provide possibilities for engaged leisure time, particularly for the aged population. *This paper has been blind refereed by academic peers appointed by the conference committe according to DEST standards.

reHousing, Melbourne 2006

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WEST ELEVATION

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

SITE SECTION

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

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SITE PLAN

Pastime: Post-war Beach Houses /XFLQGD 0F/HDQ

Case study - Wirilda Court house, Somers Bridget Basham

The Wirilda Court house, known as the 'Boat House', was built in 1960 by the Thiele family.

The Boat House gets its name from the two life savers that hang from the front balcony.

7KHVH UHIOHFW WKH RZQHU·V DIILQLW\ ZLWK ERDWLQJ DQG DUH LQVFULEHG ZLWK WKH ZRUG ¶,QDOLQJD· ,W was the first house in Wirilda Court, which was in those days, a largely unvegetated ODQGVFDSH H[SRVHG WR WKH HOHPHQWV ,W LV SDUW RI WKH %DQNVLD (VWDWH ZKLFK ZDV VXEGLYLGHG thirty years prior, but not sold until much later.

7KH 7KLHOHV OLYHG LQ (DVW 0DOYHUQ 0HOERXUQH DQG IUHTXHQWO\ YLVLWHG WKHLU EHDFK house. They had hoped to pass the house down on to their three children. When this didn't ORRN YLDEOH WKH\ SXW WKH %RDW +RXVH XS IRU VDOH ,W ZDV VROG WR WKH %DWH IDPLO\ LQ 7KH KRXVH LV RULHQWDWHG WR IDFH WKH VWUHHW ZKLFK LV SDUDOOHO WR WKH FRDVW ,W LV JHQHURXVO\ VHW back from the road to take advantage of views to the ocean from interior living spaces and the balcony. Rex Thiele was an engineer by trade, and chose to rotate the rear arm of his house as a way of shielding the cold, strong south-westerly winds from an outdoor deck area to the north east. This gesture is not clearly visible from the street owing to the incline of the site and surrounding planting. The house is double storey facing the street, yet single storey towards the rear of the site.

The majority of established trees are planted at the sides of the house. These were possibly planted when the adjacent houses were built, as a way of maintaining privacy from within the Boat House. The trees are mostly Australian natives, including many EHDXWLIXO JXPV ([FOXGLQJ D ZHGJH WR WKH ZHVW RI WKH KRXVH WKH VLWH LV QRW GHQVHO\ SODQWHG so the Boat House appears to sit partly submerged in a gently sloping, green hill. Perimeter fences are used only to the rear and west of the property, and these wire fences do not have a strong visual impact. Two sets of white gates separate the front and back yards, however, these are permanently left open, maintaining the sense of a continuous landscape.

The Boat House is sited in the middle of its site. Circulation from the front yard to the back, is facilitated through the house by way of stairs. One arrives at the house after passing under the main living space, and taking a full flight of stairs to the back deck. A door at the top of these stairs, allows access into the house. The undercroft is generous enough to accommodate two parked cars. This type of arrangement is very common amongst beach houses, owing to a shared desire of attaining ocean views, without needing two storeys dedicated to accommodation.

Alternatively, the house could be entered by passing up along its side to the west to a ramp. This takes you to the balcony at the front of the house, a storey above where your approach began. This access is not used very often, as it is awkward to get to and in dis-repair after years of being open to the elements. Two sets of double doors allow you access from the front balcony into the living/ dinning room. This is wide and light-filled with IORRU WR FHLOLQJ JODVV WR WKH QRUWK DQG VRXWK ZDOOV , EHOLHYH WKDW WKLV ZDV LQWHQGHG WR EH WKH main point of entry, however the secondary entry is more commonly used.

7KH UHDU GHFN LV WKH RWKHU VLJQLILFDQW DUHD DGMRLQLQJ WKH KRXVH ,W LV DW WKH VDPH OHYHO DV WKH LQWHULRU VSDFH ZKLFK SXWV LW KLJKHU WKDQ WKH VXUURXQGLQJ ODQGVFDSH ,W LV ZDOOHG RQ LWV perimeter, except for an opening allowing access to the garden. The barbecue has a substantial presence on the deck, which has been incorporated into the low perimeter wall.

NORTH ELEVATION

EAST ELEVATION

Diagram of the entry sequence through the undercroft, up the stairs and into the house, arriving to face the ocean.

This panorama reveals the gentle slope of the site.

SOUTH ELEVATION

The only addition may have been a third bedroom at the end of the rotated arm. This is indicated in the plan configuration as-well-as from a change in the exterior wall cladding.

WEST ELEVATION

The kitchen.

The corridor.

SITE SECTION A-A 1:200

SECTION A-A 0

5

South view of house and entry through the under croft space.

SITE PLAN The barbeque built into the perimeter wall of the deck.

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0

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

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FIRST FLOOR PLAN

reHousing, Melbourne 2006

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Pastime: Post-war Beach Houses Lucinda McLean

Case study - Bayview Road house, Merricks Beach Ralf Rehak

THE SHACK

GROUND FLOOR PLAN 0

Fondly remembered by all the Chadwicks, the shack often housed up to eight people on weekends during summer. Built from the red box timber from DQ ROG FKLFNHQ EDUQ LW ZDV DUUDQJHG ZLWK D NLWFKHQHWWH DQG 1HOO¡V EHG RQ WKH southern side, screened off when necessary to double bunks on the northern side. Cooking and washing was done outside on an acquired army stove and an outhouse toilet and laundry was built at the same time as the shack. In WKRVH GD\V WKH œ3DQ +DQGOHU¡ ZRXOG FRPH DURXQG DW WKH HQG RI HDFK GD\ WR take the refuse away.

The shack allowed for weekend recreation and holidays from the busy and strenuous working of two large scale fruit orchards near Donvale.

FIRST FLOOR PLAN 5

After planning legislation in 1952, requiring shacks to remain only if accompanying a house, Nell then proceded to arrange for the building of the main house in 1956.

View of entrance to the Shack.

View of west elevation and house in background.

Photo. Ralf Rehak

SITE SECTION C-C 1:200

0

WEST ELEVATION 0

SOUTH ELEVATION

THE HOUSE

HISTORICAL COMPARISONS, 1950 - 2005

œ1DUDQJ¡ ZDV EXLOW LQ 0UV 1HOO &KDGZLFN ERUQ LQ LQ 0HOERXUQH and still the current owner, originally bought two blocks, and then a third in 1949 for £70 each. Nell employed an architect to design the house, but directed the construction of the house herself. The structure is a timber frame, clad with fibrous cement sheet and Oregon strapping. The roof is iron sheeting. The interior walls are clad with timber. Assisting the builder often involved most of the Chadwick family on weekends during construction.

These photographs combine

5

scans of original black & white, WDNHQ EHWZHHQ WKH ODWH ¡V DQG ¡V DQG UHFHQW SKRWR graphs taken by Ralf Rehak.

Many thanks to Baden and Peter Chadwick for locating the originals.

5

VIEWS

The two storey house was positioned high and to the back of the block and oriented to the southeast to gain maximum views to the sea. At the time, the native trees did not block the view to the bay and the large pines, now on the headland did not exist. The position of the entrance at the rear of the building was for the pragmatic reason of keeping the notorious southerly wind out. This was a particular request from a family member, who was not well at the time.

The house was built with no running water or electricity, as were the other twelve houses at that time in Merricks Beach. The kitchen still houses the original ice chest, and island fireplace which originally housed a slow combusWLRQ VWRYH IRU WKH NLWFKHQ 7KH ILUHSODFH DW 1HOO¡V UHTXHVW ZDV SODFHG LQ WKH corner of the brickwork - quite a modern idea, condusive to gatherings around WKH ILUH $ œZDVK URRP¡ ZKLFK GRXEOHG DV D VKRZHU ZDV DGGHG WR WKH KRXVH LQ WKH ODWH ¡V 8S XQWLO WKLV WLPH WKH VKRZHU KDG EHHQ DQ RXWVLGH PHWDO shower bucket.

View from Bayview Road - late 1950’s.

Same view taken 2005

Views from level one of the house - Image on the left mid - late 1960’s Right: same view taken 2005

CIRCULATION

Left: Lenore Chadwick around 1950, standing on the steps of the shack. Right : from left; Michelle, Trevor -brother of Lenore, His partner Arwon and Mary Chadwick.

VEGETATION LEGEND View of island fireplace & kitchen from dining / living room

photo: Ralf Rehak

Before the trees blocked the view, the upstairs was favored as a living room, while downstairs doubled as both dining and living. After the view was blocked by the growing trees, the upstairs program changed from living area to bedroom.

SITE PLAN

The entrance. - mid 1960’s and Right, in 2005. Note the change in ground level to the door.

Left: Inside the living room, showing both the view and the corner fireplace. Right: 2005 Note the original furniture still in good condition.

Photo’s Ralf Rehak 2005 & Original B&W, courtesy Baden Chadwick - personal archive

Lucinda McLean established NMBW Architecture Studio in 1997. The work of the practice currently includes single family houses, multiple housing as well as urban design work. Lucinda combines practice based research with teaching in the School of Architecture, RMIT University.

Undergraduate studies were undertaken at the University of Melbourne and post graduate studies at the Staedelschule, Frankfurt am Main, Germany reHousing, Melbourne 2006

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Does a Tree Make High-Density Living Green?* Jasmine Palmer Although statistics suggest that apartment developments are a small portion of the Australian market, the rate of increase in people residing in apartment style housing is greater than the rate of increase in the national population. Current government policies in many urban centres encourage increased densities around central business districts and activity nodes as a means of increasing the sustainability of our cities; but does the Australian design and construction industry have the skills required to ensure such development has the desired effect? When considering the sustainability of the built environment investors and developers tend to focus upon measurable and economic factors of design with little attention given to the social consequences of design decisions. Is it possible to successfully translate the Australian Dream into the vertical village of the future or are we heading toward disparate urban environments informed by political policy ahead of social context?

As a society relatively inexperienced in the habitation of high-rise or high density residential spaces Australia has much to learn from the experiences of other nations with regard to the sustainability of such developments. This paper considers existing housing conditions to establish issues in need of further investigation. It then utilises international case studies as a means of exploring the issues LGHQWL多HG WR FRQVLGHU KRZ WKH\ PD\ EH PRVW VXFFHVVIXOO\ DGGUHVVHG LQ RXU QDWLRQV WUDQVLWLRQ WR higher density living.

In conclusion this investigation establishes a set of design recommendations for the development of high density residential environments, addressing the many facets of sustainability. Such UHFRPPHQGDWLRQV DLP WR HQVXUH FXUUHQW JRYHUQPHQW SROLFLHV RI GHQVL多FDWLRQ DUH DEOH WR DFKLHYH their intended outcomes at the same time as facilitating the vertical sustainability of the Australian Dream.

*This paper has been blind refereed by academic peers appointed by the conference committe according to DEST standards.

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7KH GHYHORSPHQW DQG KDELWDWLRQ RI PRGHUQ XUEDQ HQYLURQPHQWV LV LQFUHDVLQJO\ LQÀXHQFHG E\ discussions and debates surrounding the ‘sustainability’ of the city. The introduction of urban development boundaries and urban consolidation strategies in many Australian centres encourages WKH LQFUHDVHG GHQVL¿FDWLRQ RI FHQWUDO EXVLQHVV GLVWULFWV DQG DFWLYLW\ FHQWUHV ,W LV JHQHUDOO\ recognised that sustainable development seeks a balance between environmental, economic and social concerns. As a society focused upon the measurable the later commonly receives the least focus and the economic often overrides the environmental. The current trend toward the use of prescriptive policies and guidelines tends to support the general misconception that sustainability is concerned primarily with the numeric reduction in the use of non-renewable resources in buildings.

This discussion aims to consider the potential of sustainable high-rise dwelling in an Australian context. It is not intended to generate technical design solutions but suggest a series of issues or opportunities to be considered when proposing high-rise living environments.

The ‘Australian Dream’ of home ownership continues to support urban expansion with the construction of new land subdivisions on the fringes of all Australian cities. As the free standing project home continues to dominate the Australian domestic building market legislation ensures basic standards of HQHUJ\ HI¿FLHQF\ LQ WKHVH KRPHV WKURXJK SUHVFULSWLYH PLQLPXP UHTXLUHPHQWV 6XFK OHJLVODWLRQ KDV facilitated a forecast reduction in energy consumption of 15% per square metre by 2010. However, with the expected increase in both dwelling size and number an overall 60% increase in domestic energy use is predicted. a 7R DFKLHYH D VLJQL¿FDQW UHGXFWLRQ LQ FRQVXPSWLRQ ZKLOVW DFFRPPRGDWLQJ increasing household numbers the design of residential stock will need to embrace alterations to the status quo that extend beyond the minimum standards currently enshrined in building legislation.

Expanding the assessment of residential sustainability beyond energy assessment to consider the notion of intergenerational responsibility we must also consider what is likely to constitute the typical residential requirements of the future. Considering the nations declining birth rate, aging population and dominance of double income households the current ‘Australian Dream’, based on the preconception of the nuclear family household with and a set of typical ‘Aussie’ aspirations, is likely to be subject to future change. Our changing demographic shows a proportional increase in lone-person households and decrease in households with three or more members.b Higher density housing is often seen as a solution to the environmental and social problems caused E\ µXUEDQ VSUDZO¶ LQ $XVWUDOLD¶V ODUJHU FLWLHV ,W LV DOVR PHULWHG E\ VRPH ZLWK D VLJQL¿FDQW SRWHQWLDO for improving housing affordability.c Although statistics suggest that apartment developments are a small portion of the Australian market, the rate of increase in people residing in apartment style housing is greater than the rate of increase in the Australian population.d With increasing land and fuel prices and housing affordability at an all time Australian low it is not unimaginable that the tendency toward higher density housing will continue in the coming decades. Such trends instigate a complex series of debates regarding infrastructure, community services provision, management structures and social equitye; not to mention resistance from existing residents. Unfortunately they KDYH QRW \HW EURXJKW D VLJQL¿FDQW DOWHUDWLRQ LQ DSSURDFKHV WR UHVLGHQWLDO GHVLJQ DQG VSDWLDO XWLOLVDWLRQ which might be expected with such increasing of densities.

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In transposing the Australian lifestyle to a high-rise context Renzo Piano’s Macquarie Apartments KDYH FRPPHQFHG WKH UHGHÂżQLWLRQ RI WKH W\SLFDO VSDWLDO DSSURDFK 7KH KDOOZD\ OLNH EDOFRQ\ FRPPRQO\ attached to above ground housing is expanded to create usable outdoor rooms. The removal of the hermetically sealed skin and incorporation of extensive louvre systems makes the outdoor room D IXQFWLRQDO PXOWL VHDVRQDO FRPSRQHQW RI WKH UHVLGHQFH HYHQ RQ XSSHU Ă€RRUV H[SRVHG WR H[WUHPH ZLQG 'RXEOH FRUHV DQG UHODWLYHO\ QDUURZ Ă€RRU SODWHV HQDEOH WKH LQWHUQDO VSDFHV WR EH QDWXUDOO\ ventilated, a feature uncommon in central core developments where each residence is reached from an internal corridor. ‘Piano is disturbed by what he calls the ancestral association of house with shelter, protection and VROLGLW\ Âą WKH ¾FLUFXPVFULEHG FRQFHSW RI VSDFH Âś +H DUJXHV IRU D GLIIHUHQW FRQFHSWLRQ SURSRVLQJ what he calls ‘a less suffocating idea of architectural space’.’f This notion begins to challenge the transposition of traditional spatial design to the vertical realm and results in apartments constructed of a series of spaces which can adapt to different uses over time simply through their opening and closing and by the degree of interaction the occupant chooses to establish between them.

7KH $XVWUDOLDQ SRSXODWLRQ LV JHQHUDOO\ UHOXFWDQW WR DFFHSW VLJQLÂżFDQW DOWHUDWLRQ WR RXU H[LVWLQJ QRWLRQV of ‘need’ and tends to seek familiar, investment ‘safe’ solutions to living environments, be they single or multi storey. To increase the ability of future high-rise residences to maximise all aspects of sustainability we need to look beyond our borders to learn how designers and communities in other nations generate solutions to high urban densities. In doing so we need to consider not only the approaches to resource management employed but also the creation of socially sustainable developments; the vertical village. The design and construction of high-rise residential buildings with a sustainability agenda is far more common in other areas of the globe. The ideas and solutions proposed and employed in places such as Malaysia, Japan, North America and Europe offer an opportunity to observe approaches to sustainability in all its guises.

T.R.Hamzah and Yeang’s bioclimatic design principles promote the utilisation of natural forces in the creation of habitable space and provide alternatives to the traditional highly serviced internal environment. The technical details of non-standard servicing solutions incorporated in built projects have provided content for numerous reports and reviews. I suggest it is accepted WKDW LQFRUSRUDWLRQ RI VRODU VKDGLQJ SHQHWUDWLRQ SULQFLSOHV WKH XVH RI QDWXUDO YHQWLODWLRQ DQG HPSOR\PHQW RI HI¿FLHQW WHFKQRORJLHV SURYLGHV WKH RSSRUWXQLW\ WR LQFUHDVH UHVRXUFH VDYLQJV RYHU the lifetime of occupation. With regard to current discussions the points of interest lie in the impact these approaches have on spatial design.

The interconnection of residential units is often informed by Yeang’s attitude to vertical urban planning, encouraging the translation of traditionally horizontal urban design notions such as SODFH PDNLQJ ODQGVFDSLQJ ¿JXUH JURXQG UHODWLRQVKLSV DQG DFFHVVLELOLW\ LQWR WKH YHUWLFDO UHDOP )HZ UHVLGHQWLDO EXLOGLQJ SURMHFWV DUH RI VXI¿FLHQW VFDOH WR LQFRUSRUDWH ORFDO DPHQLWLHV VXFK as shops and services in the vertical realm as proposed by Yeang; however the impact of this

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approach is evident in the generation of non-standard circulation and socialization spaces.

The Penggiran Apartment Towers, Malaysia, employ as primary, secondary, and tertiary circulation routes commonly applied to the design of horizontal landscapes. Vertical paths, horizontal walkways and private bridges to individual residences, together with the inclusion of reHousing, Melbourne 2006

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multistorey skycourts, promote a gradual sense of privatisation whilst grouping the residences into neighbourhoods focused around common outdoor areas. Skycourts and other transitional spaces offer the opportunity for occupants to personalise external space. â&#x20AC;&#x153;By providing the courtyards in the sky, the tall building becomes more than just a concrete tray for the occupants.â&#x20AC;? h /LNH PDQ\ RI <HDQJÂśV SURMHFWV 3HQJJLUDQ 7RZHUV SURYLGHV OX[XU\ GZHOOLQJV VLJQLÂżFDQWO\ ODUJHU than the average local residence. Whilst it is inevitable housing solutions will vary with means, the translation of existing horizontal social contexts into a hierarchy of gated communities GHÂżQHG WKURXJK YHUWLFDO GLVSODFHPHQW KDV VLJQLÂżFDQW GHWULPHQWDO SRWHQWLDO 6HUURQD HW DO OLNHQ the single use high-rise to a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;vertical cul-de-sacâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; which converts the current horizontal sprawl of our cities to dysfunctional â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;vertical sprawlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. To counteract this they suggest that â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;cities do not need to grow in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;heightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; but should develop in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;spaceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, in order to describe a holistic domain for human habitatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;i This notion leads to the proposal of the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Tetra Dimensional Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; which removes the urban restriction of the horizontal plane to house 700,000 people in a building typology that fades contemporary urban barriers in both the horizontal and vertical dimensions. The primary intention is to redress current transportation systems and the proposal effectively removes the need for urban commuting with the functions of the city contained within 10 square kilometres and interconnected through a three-dimensional circulatory transport system. Although it is unlikely the construction of such an â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;urban continentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; would be undertaken these idealistic notions provide an array of possibilities which may be employed in the re-development and rehabitation of our existing urban fabric[s].

In the design of the Elephant and Castle Residential Eco-Towers Yeang employs similar spatial approaches. These include the use of horizontal and vertical linkages within the development to connect occupants to places of residence, employment, recreation and entertainment. In WKLV UHGHÂżQLWLRQ RI WKH KLJK ULVH DV D YHUWLFDO FLW\ IUDJPHQW WKH FLUFXODWLRQ V\VWHPV HPSOR\HG play a crucial role in both the physical and social accessibility of the buildings components.

The primary circulation system segments the tower into a series of smaller clusters linked internally with ramps which can be traversed by foot in the same way as one might experience a traditional urban ground plane. This system encourages occupants to develop an increased sense of identity and ownership within a discreet component of the larger whole. It creates D VHULHV RI SULYDWH VHPLSULYDWH VHPL SXEOLF DQG SXEOLF LQWHUIDFHV ZLWKLQ WKH VFKHPH ZKLFK is typically absent in Australian high-rise dwelling. These spaces facilitate social interaction through coincidence in the same way as a grounded urban street, although free of the physical limitations related to vehicular transport.

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The National Sustainable Tower Blocks Initiative (NSTBI) of the UK comprises a number of voluntary organizations which have undertaken studies with regard to the social VXVWDLQDELOLW\ RI WRZHU EORFN FRPPXQLWLHV 7KHVH VWXGLHV KDYH IRXQG WKDW WKH VLJQL¿FDQW -

IDFWRUV LQÀXHQFLQJ VRFLDO VXVWDLQDELOLW\ DUH Effective community security systems Policies that help encourage and build steady and suitable populations

-

Ability of dwellings to be appropriately refurbished Appropriate social spaces and environments

-

Meaningful community involvement and resident participation in management. j reHousing, Melbourne 2006

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,QWHUHVWLQJO\ WKHVH RXWFRPHV UHODWHG VSHFLÂżFDOO\ WR WRZHU EORFNV KDYH D GLUHFW UHODWLRQVKLS WR WKH principles commonly raised in the discussion of low rise sustainable urban communities. When considering the social sustainability of high-rise development we would do well to remember that occupant needs do not vary with height. Design must consider how to effectively convert known community needs to the vertical dimension rather than how to convert the known vertical solution to meet community needs.

The previously discussed examples address the needs related to appropriate social spaces and encourage effective community security systems through the proximity of residences to such spaces, providing the opportunity for observation. The recommendations for stable occupation, building adaptability and resident participation require further investigation. Firstly we need to consider the nature of households that are currently residing in non-traditional housing types in Australia and the permanence of their residence.

Australian surveys show that high rise residential developments tend to have one or two bedrooms and are typically occupied by single person households or couples without children. &KLOGUHQ DUH VLJQLÂżFDQWO\ XQGHUUHSUHVHQWHG LQ VXFK GZHOOLQJV LQ FRPSDULVRQ WR LQGLYLGXDO houses. High rise developments also have a low rate of owner occupation, with the vast majority of properties in the private rental market resulting in high occupant turnover and lack of community.k This data suggests high-density housing has not met the perceived needs of WKH $XVWUDOLDQ IDPLO\ XQLW WR DQ H[WHQW VXIÂżFLHQW WR HQFRXUDJH DFFHSWDQFH :LWKLQ D VXVWDLQDEOH XUEDQ FRPPXQLW\ WKH GZHOOLQJ RSWLRQV SURYLGHG QHHG WR EH VXIÂżFLHQWO\ Ă&#x20AC;H[LEOH WR DFFRPPRGDWH changes in occupants needs over time. The detached suburban home is designed to accommodate the maximum condition of the nuclear family. Throughout the remainder of a family unit cycle bedrooms and secondary living spaces often remain unused, resulting in large swathes of built space being â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;wastedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; as both embodied and operational energy inputs are under utilised. Traditional domestic construction does not typically facilitate the division RI GZHOOLQJV GXULQJ WKHLU OLIHWLPH VXFK Ă&#x20AC;H[LELOLW\ ZRXOG EH EHQHÂżFLDO WR ERWK WKH VXEXUEDQ DQG urban context.

The OBAYASHI Corporation proposed the development of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Dynamic Asset Housingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; [DAH] that enables living spaces to respond to life changes.l The DAH model comprises a primary dwelling unit with one or two sub-dwelling units connected vertically and horizontally via variable LQÂżOO FRPSRQHQWV 7KH DELOLW\ WR UHQW LQGHSHQGHQW VXE GZHOOLQJ XQLWV DOORZV DQ RFFXSDQW WR SXUFKDVH WKH OLYLQJ VSDFHV WKH\ DQWLFLSDWH DV QHFHVVDU\ LQ IXWXUH FLUFXPVWDQFHV DQG ÂżQDQFH this through rental income until such time as the space is required. Minimal remodelling of LQWHULRU SDQHOV FRQQHFWV WKH XQLWV ZLWK XQXVHG EXLOGLQJ FRPSRQHQWV VWRUHG ZLWKLQ VSHFLÂżFDOO\ designed cavities in the structure. Similarly the living spaces occupied can again be reduced when no longer required. This model has the potential not only to accommodate changing IDPLO\ VLWXDWLRQV EXW DOVR WKH YDULDWLRQV ZKLFK H[LVW LQ OLYLQJ ZRUNLQJ DUUDQJHPHQWV 7KH dynamic nature of such a dwelling offers the potential to take advantage of the positive impacts of a stable population base within a community at the same time as encompassing the inputs DQG EHQHÂżWV RI G\QDPLF UHVLGHQWV reHousing, Melbourne 2006

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$UFKLWHFW .D]XKLUR .RMLPD SURSRVHV D VLPLODU GHJUHH RI Ă&#x20AC;H[LELOLW\ LQ D KLJK GHQVLW\ neighbourhood model with a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;variable porous structureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.m The proposal suggests the fracturing of traditionally closed structures to make maximum use of outdoor volumes, creating common spaces that respond to seasonal variation and offer the potential for future extension of living space. Such a system allows for the gradual development an urban neighbourhood over time, enabling the changing needs of residents to be established and met rather than the construction RI DQ LQĂ&#x20AC;H[LEOH VROXWLRQ EDVHG XSRQ SUHGLFWHG QHHG 7KLV DSSURDFK VXSSRUWV WKH QRWLRQ WKDW ÂľDQ architect[s] responsibility is to leave room for adaptation to future generations. Designing an optimal solution for the immediate use of a new building does not maximise its life cycle value of building. Life cycle based design should aim for constructions that have the maximum potential IRU DGDSWDELOLW\ LW LV GLIÂżFXOW WR SUHGLFW HYHU\ IXWXUH DVSHFW RI D EXLOGLQJ Âśn Both the Dynamic Asset Housing model and Kojimaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s porous structure are premised by the XVH RI D 6XSSRUW ,QÂżOO >6,@ DSSURDFK WR FRQVWUXFWLRQ UHFRJQLVLQJ YDULDWLRQV LQ OLIHVSDQ RI YDULRXV building components. This adaptable approach to building is recognised for its potential to LQFUHDVH WKH XVHIXO OLIH WLPH RI EXLOGLQJ VWUXFWXUHV WKURXJK WKH LQEXLOW DELOLW\ WR DGDSW LQÂżOO RU ÂżW out as required.

High-rise construction in Australia typically involves the redevelopment of large sites with all dwellings completed simultaneously in preparation for occupancy. These developments offer little potential for remodelling over their lifetime beyond the renovation of surfaces or minor LQWHULRU PRGLÂżFDWLRQV $OWHUDWLRQV DUH OLPLWHG E\ WKH LQWULQVLF FRQQHFWLRQV DQG LQWHUGHSHQGHQFLHV WKDW W\SLFDOO\ H[LVW EHWZHHQ VWUXFWXUH FRQVWUXFWLRQ DQG VHUYLFLQJ V\VWHPV Âł$ SHUSHWXDWLQJ system is ensured through built-in redundancyâ&#x20AC;?.o Recognition of the lifetime differential in EXLOGLQJ V\VWHPV DOORZV HQHUJ\ LQWHQVH VWUXFWXUDO V\VWHPV WR EH XWLOLVHG WR PD[LPXP EHQHÂżW WKURXJK UHGXFHG UHGXQGDQF\ DQG RIIHUV VLJQLÂżFDQW EHQHÂżW WR WKH VRFLDO VXVWDLQDELOLW\ RI EXLOGLQJV and neighbourhoods. Such adaptable systems support changes to living arrangements as shown in the DAH model and encourage the transformation of built fabric over time; adding to the richness and permanence of an urban environment and avoiding the mass demolition of urban communities.

SI affords a distinction between the individual and the community so often lost in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;massâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; housing. Commitments and investments made by communities are typically long term, providing the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;skeletonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; within which the individual is able to make shorter-term personal decisions and commitments. The ability to instigate changes over time supports high levels of resident participation in the moulding of both private and personal space, as recommended by the NSTBI studies. Involvement in community design also leads to a higher level of resident engagement and effective management over the lifetime of those design decisions.p Osaka Gas â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Next 21â&#x20AC;? in Osaka, Japan is an â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;experimentalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 8 storey housing development which has put in place many of these notions of adaptive design and resident participation. It employs innovative energy generating and saving devices developed by Osaka Gas, clearly offering the opportunity to reduce energy consumption. In addition the housing model employed reHousing, Melbourne 2006

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offers the potential to assess the effectiveness of variations to traditional planning and construction systems. The Next 21 project was conceived with the intention of creating a new XUEDQ FRPPXQLW\ 6LJQLÂżFDQW YROXPHV RI RXWGRRU VSDFH DUH FUHDWHG UDQJLQJ IURP FRPPRQ courtyards, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;casual communication spacesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and private balconies to the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;three-dimensional streetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; used by children as above ground play space. The SI system employed facilitates the complete remodelling of living spaces to meet occupants changing needs. Serviced spaces VXFK DV NLWFKHQV DQG EDWKURRPV DUH HDVLO\ UHORFDWHG WKURXJK WKH XVH RI Ă&#x20AC;H[LEOH VHUYLFLQJ systems which house all hydraulic, electrical and ventilation systems in structural â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;ductsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; under external walkways and in accessible ceiling spaces. Standardised panels for both internal and external partitions ensure the reuse of existing materials in the remodelling process. Such a controlled, standardised system of construction may suggest a degree of limitation; however, the intention at Next 21 is to encourage a diverse community population through the design of distinct residences to meet various householdsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; needs ranging from single person to multigenerational units. The diverse population encouraged by this range of accommodation ensures continuous activity and ongoing evolution within the community.

*

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The lack of choice and personalisation built into the current Australian high-rise development V\VWHP FRXOG EH UHYLVHG ZLWK WKH GHYHORSPHQW RI ¿QDQFLDO DSSURDFKHV WKDW GLIIHUHQWLDWH EHWZHHQ component longevity. Infrastructure and structure offer investors a long term opportunity within which individuals and families can make shorter term decisions. Such commercial GLVWLQFWLRQ EHWZHHQ VNHOHWRQ DQG LQ¿OO RIIHUV WKH RSSRUWXQLW\ IRU FLW\ SODQQHUV WR WUDQVSRVH horizontal notions of urban planning into a series of vertical infrastructures. This would allow individuals and communities to develop a range of personalised and adaptable solutions to both commercial and residential needs. Such an adjustment to the way we approach urban space and infrastructure would require a closer relationship between ‘planning’ and ‘building’ than what we see today.

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$OWKRXJK LW LV LGHQWLÂżHG WKDW WKH $XVWUDOLDQ H[SHFWDWLRQ RI OLYLQJ VSDFH QHHGV WR EH DGGUHVVHG if we are to contribute to the global commitment of greenhouse gas reduction, this situation PD\ EH PRUH HIIHFWLYHO\ DGGUHVVHG WKURXJK WKH DGDSWDWLRQ RI EXLOGLQJ W\SH LQ WKH ÂżUVW LQVWDQFH rather than alteration to living systems. If the anticipated near-future increase in medium density dwellings is seen prior to a long-term transition to high-rise living then it is possible currently escalating dwelling sizes may be curbed prior to any vertical explosion. However, will Australians alter their perceived needs with regard to space and function? The previously discussed projects bring with them a cultural approach to living which ensures relatively small VSDFHV DFKLHYH PD[LPXP HIÂżFLHQFLHV WKURXJK YDULDEOH FRQQHFWLRQV DQG PXOWLSOH IXQFWLRQV However, the current Australian approach of building separate spaces for each required IXQFWLRQ GRHV QRW HQFRXUDJH VXFK PRGLÂżFDWLRQ RI VSDFH FRPPRQ WR RWKHU FXOWXUHV 7KH VRFLDO DFFHSWDQFH RI VHDVRQDO RU GDLO\ PRGLÂżFDWLRQ RI VSDFH ZLOO EH FUXFLDO WR HQVXUH UHGXFLQJ dwelling size does not result in a miniaturisation of the existing, but facilitates the use of space to its maximum potential to maintain living standards and meet social expectations.

It is suggested that an eventual increase in high-rise residential developments in Australia is inevitable. As the market for such properties increase consumers will be bombarded with claims of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;greenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; design as developers attempt to differentiate their product from the standard.

7R HQVXUH VXFK FODLPV KROG VRPH PHULW $XVWUDOLDQ GHVLJQHUV QHHG WR FRQWLQXH WR UHÂżQH WKHLU ability to employ: effective passive building approaches taking into consideration the buildings climate and micro-climate WKH XVH RI FXUUHQW HIÂżFLHQW VHUYLFLQJ VROXWLRQV WR PLQLPLVH UHVRXUFH FRQVXPSWLRQ and in addition reconsider the existing approach to high-rise residential design to: Encourage a sense of community ownership and participation Facilitate urban communities which are supported by a highly durable infrastructure system which allows for community growth over time Enable occupants to have input into the design and construction of both common and individual living spaces Develop a means of converting qualities of traditional horizontal streets and planning approaches to vertical â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;cities in the skyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Encourage stable residencies through diversity and adaptability Explore alternative investment possibilities which distinguish between the lifetime of different components of development

&RQVLGHU FXOWXUDOO\ DSSURSULDWH PHDQV RI XWLOLVLQJ VPDOO OLYLQJ VSDFHV PRUH HIÂżFLHQWO\ With the development of appropriate community spaces above ground for social interaction and ÂľSOD\Âś LW LV OLNHO\ WKDW VXFK VSDFHV ZRXOG DFFRPPRGDWH VLJQLÂżFDQW DPRXQWV RI YHJHWDWLRQ PD\EH even a tree. However, the tree alone can not make high-rise living â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;greenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

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D 7KH $XVWUDOLDQ *UHHQKRXVH 2IÂżFH Âľ$XVWUDOLDQ 5HVLGHQWLDO %XLOGLQJ 6HFWRU *UHHQKRXVH *DV (PLVVLRQV 2010. Executive Summary Reportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, 1999. b The Australian Bureau of Statistics, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;2004 Family and Community National Summaryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, 2005 c J Yates, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The rhetoric and reality of housing choice: The role of urban consolidationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, in Urban Policy and Research, vol.19, no. 44, 491-527. d The Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2005. e See for example: B. Randolph, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Urban Renewal: a new role for new housing providers in creating sustainable communities?â&#x20AC;&#x2122;, City Futures Research Centre Issues Paper January 2006. f A Metcalf, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Aurora Place, Renzo Piano Sydneyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, Sydney: Watermark Press, 2001, 100. g D Gissen, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Big and Green: Toward Sustainable Architecture in the 21st Centuryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2003. h K Yeang, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Bioclimatic Skyscrapersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, London: Artemis, 1994, 25-6. i J Serrano, NA Pecorari, V Serrano, S Serrano, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Four Dimensional Cities, Towards and Urban Paradigm Shiftâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, in Proceedings of The 2005 World Sustainable Building Conference Tokyo, 2005, 3444-5.

M & &KXUFK 7 *DOH Âľ6WUHHWV LQ WKH 6N\ 7RZDUGV LPSURYLQJ WKH TXDOLW\ RI OLIH LQ 7RZHU %ORFNV LQ WKH 8.Âś WKH ÂżUVW 5HSRUW of the National Sustainable Tower Block Initiative, February 2000. k B Randolph, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Higher Density Communities: Current trends and future implicationsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, presented at the Strata and Community Title in Australia for the 21st Century Conference. September 2005. l T Kubota, K Nagayo, H Komiya, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Proposal for Dynamic Asset Housingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, in Proceedings of The 2005 World Sustainable Building Conference Tokyo, 2005, 2827. m Architectural Institute of Japan (ed.), â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Architecture for a Sustainable Future, all about the Holistic Approach in Japanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, Tokyo: Institute for Building Environment and Energy Conservation, 2005, 11 n Architectural Institute of Japan (ed.), â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Architecture for a Sustainable Futureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, 33.

R - *ROOLQJV Âľ6XEXUEDQ 7UDQVIRUPDWLRQV LQ WKH 3RVWPHWURSROLVÂś LQ $UFKLWHFWXUH $XVWUDOLD 6HSW 2FW p H Barton, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Sustainable Communities: The potential for the eco-neighbourhoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, London: Earthscan Publications, 2000,178.

Jasmine Palmer A background in community housing design and a passion for equality in the built environment inform both my research and teaching; considering sustainable community futures from the measurable to the speculative. I am currently undertaking a Masters in Sustainable Design. reHousing, Melbourne 2006

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