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(Sub)urban dreaming
(Sub)urban dreaming
Melbourne, Australia
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Other Projects by INDEX Architecture
(Sub)urban dreaming
Melbourne, Australia
The Australian dream is changing. Gone are the days of the quarter acre block and the backyard. The explosion of house prices has destroyed the affordability and accessibility of the suburban lifestyle. While new housing continues to appear at the cities fringes, growing commuting times and a lack of amenity in these developments has placed increasing pressure on the inner city to absorb more dwellings. The city must achieve a greater level of density, but must do so in a way that acknowledges the social and cultural expectations of the Australian city. More Australians are choosing to live in attached housing, however the choice available presents a standard of living vastly inferior to the detached model. Basic amenities such as access to sunlight and open space are frequently overlooked in the design of apartment blocks –a condition best typified but the opportunistic proliferation of ‘student’ housing developments. If our cities are to densify we must develop a model of medium to high density housing that is socially sustainable.
Suburban Dreaming draws on an understanding of the organisational and cultural context of the Australian suburb. The design retains the majority of the existing brickwork shell, stair well and adapts the brickwork penetrations. A new reinforced concrete structural grid is inserted to support an increase in the overall height of the building. The project provides a mixture of two and one bedroom apartments and three commercial tenancies that trade onto the street. The apartment block is setback four metres to the north, creating a communal courtyard that provides open space for residents of the building. The courtyard allows for a semi-permeable surface topped Bradstone Gironde in a random pattern that is intercut with turf. By allowing this space to remain open the design effectively guarantees permanent north sunlight to every dwelling.
The courtyard provides walk up access to apartments that is reminiscent of the suburban frontyard. Privacy is maintained for the individual apartments through a treated timber screen, which are hung in front of blackbutt hardwood cladding. The interior spaces reference the merchant builder tradition of Melbourne’s 1970s. Overlay solid strip stringybark flooring encircles the dwelling, wrapping the walls and ceilings to create a ‘cocoon’ like enclosure. Joinery and other architectural elements are finished to match, creating a sense of warmth that picks up subtle changes in the light filtering through the timber screen.
The top floors of the project are clad on three by brick. Existing brickwork is selectively removed and relocated on the ground and second floors and topped with a black paint finish. Above this a polychrome course of white and black bricks are applied as a cladding. As the work of Howard Arkley demonstrates, the image of suburban life is firmly ingrained within the collective our collective consciousness. The final façade pattern of the projects draws on our memory of what constitutes the Australian city. This is not a house, but a dream of suburbia within the dense future of the Australian city.
Suburban Dreaming draws on an understanding of the organisational and cultural context of the Australian suburb. The design retains the majority of the existing brickwork shell, stair well and adapts the brickwork penetrations. A new reinforced concrete structural grid is inserted to support an increase in the overall height of the building. The project provides a mixture of two and one bedroom apartments and three commercial tenancies that trade onto the street. The apartment block is setback four metres to the north, creating a communal courtyard that provides open space for residents of the building. The courtyard allows for a semi-permeable surface topped Bradstone Gironde in a random pattern that is intercut with turf. By allowing this space to remain open the design effectively guarantees permanent north sunlight to every dwelling.
The courtyard provides walk up access to apartments that is reminiscent of the suburban frontyard. Privacy is maintained for the individual apartments through a treated timber screen, which are hung in front of blackbutt hardwood cladding. The interior spaces reference the merchant builder tradition of Melbourne’s 1970s. Overlay solid strip stringybark flooring encircles the dwelling, wrapping the walls and ceilings to create a ‘cocoon’ like enclosure. Joinery and other architectural elements are finished to match, creating a sense of warmth that picks up subtle changes in the light filtering through the timber screen.
The top floors of the project are clad on three by brick. Existing brickwork is selectively removed and relocated on the ground and second floors and topped with a black paint finish. Above this a polychrome course of white and black bricks are applied as a cladding. As the work of Howard Arkley demonstrates, the image of suburban life is firmly ingrained within the collective our collective consciousness. The final façade pattern of the projects draws on our memory of what constitutes the Australian city. This is not a house, but a dream of suburbia within the dense future of the Australian city.
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