The Victorian government has begun a pilot program that could see competition-winning apartment designs built in Melbourne’s north-western suburbs.
The Future Homes pilot project will see a a new planning provision under the Maribyrnong Planning Scheme. Developers can purchase exemplary apartment designs for $15,000 in a scheme the Grattan Institute’s economic policy program director Brendan Coates likened to the RVIA’s Small Homes Services introduced in the late 1940s.
Each design suite has three variations to suite different site orientations and parking arrangements. The designs are intended to be adapted to specific sites by a suitably qualified person.
The planning provision will also fast track the planning assessment process, potentially halving the time it takes to receive approval.
The four designs are each winners of the Office of Victorian Government Architect’s Future Homes competition.
Design B by Lian.
Image: OVGA
The winning proposals deliver high quality living spaces, useable communal spaces that encourage interaction between neighbours and designs that could be adapted to suit the needs of a changing population.
Two winning schemes – from Spiral Architecture Lab and Lian (with Finding Infinity and Openwork) – propose modular systems that could be arranged in various ways to suit different household types.
The proposal by Design Strategy Architecture in collaboration with Includesign creates two shared outdoor spaces connected via stairs to foster community connections.
McGregor Westlake Architecture’s winning entry proposes a landscape-first approach, which will generate a network of gardens across a suburban block.
Future Homes is a joint project between the Office of Victorian Government Architect, Department of Environment Land Water and Planning and the City fo Maribyrnong.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
