A proposal to relocate and revamp houses earmarked for demolition has won Lake Macquarie City Council’s design ideas competition for innovative housing.
Designed by Curious Practice, the winning scheme, “House 186.3,” repurposes ageing housing stock while also maintaining traditional aesthetics of suburban homes.
“One of the big ideas for our project was about reusing existing houses and not necessarily building new houses as a sustainable model,” said Curious Practice director Warren Haasnoot.
He added that the design is also responsive to the natural environment with passive design, cross flow of ventilation, good solar protection and minimizing need for air conditioning. The design also includes flexible indoor spaces, “so [it’s] not necessarily being prescriptive with what the rooms are, but how they can be adapted and changed to suit different families’ needs,” he said.
The competition entrants were challenged to design two dwellings on a council-owned vacant block of land on Ocean Street in Dudley.
Curious Practice’s design also includes communal outdoor spaces and prospective neighbours to come together.
Professional winning entry: House 186.3 by Curious Practice.
“The winning entry was really a stand out. It had comprehensively looked at issues of sustainability,” said University of Newcastle Head of Architecture Chris Tucker, who was a member of the judging panel.
“These houses are around 170 and 100 square metres so they are smaller than the average but they are more spacious. They have higher ceilings, they use outside spaces, and draw them inside the house to make that house feel larger.”
The judges also awarded a student prize to Natalie Keynton, Riley Sherman and Robert Snelling from the University of Melbourne. Their design “InBetween House” comprises two modular dwellings with separate levels, which can be adapted for use a home office, multi-generational housing or as dual occupancy housing.
Student winning entry: InBetween House by Natalie Keynton, Riley Sherman and Robert Snelling.
“The dWELL contest aimed to shed light on innovative new housing design that put wellness and sustainability before simply maximizing a developer’s profit per square metre,” said David Antcliff, manager property and business development at Lake Macquarie City Council.
“We wanted to draw on the creativity and passion of professional architects and tertiary students from across Australia to see what their vision was for the next generation of housing in Lake Macquarie and other urban areas.”
“It has shown us what might be possible, and provides valuable insight as we work towards our housing strategy.”
The council said on its website, “The winning entries showcase what is possible, what is practical and what is affordable in providing next-generation housing for all Australians. We will work closely with the winning team to determine if we will refine and progress their designs to construction, and if so where.”
Source: Architecture - architectureau
