Situated at WGV in White Gum Valley, Australia’s second ‘One Planet Community’, the Gen Y Demonstration Housing Project is an example of Landcorp’s ‘Innovation through Demonstration’ - With a design strategy of ‘small and raw’ units that are well located and well-priced, the project attempts to reconceptualise what is achievable when community, sustainability and cost are prioritised equally.
As a hybrid of apartment building and freestanding house, the Gen Y Demonstration Housing Project offers a new model for multi-residential infill housing – micro-apartment buildings that blend harmoniously with their surrounding suburban context, small enough to be located on standard sized residential blocks. The Gen Y Demonstration Housing Project contains three 50m 2 , single-bedroom apartments within a compact two-storey footprint on a 250m 2 block. It is in this efficient use of the suburban block that a potential for increased residential density can be found. This increase is not at the expense of liveability for inhabitants or neighbours - Each apartment has large private and communal external areas, clever storage, generous ceiling heights, and high thermal efficiency. While undoubtedly small, the apartments are spatially efficient and, moreover, reflect changing Australian demographics and a future in which single person households make up the fastest growing household type.
The three apartments are wrapped around a central courtyard, with two apartments at ground (one over two levels) and a third at the upper level. Each apartment has an independent entry, with the upper level apartment accessed from a private external staircase. Despite the tight site constraints, the apartments each have a private external area (either garden, deck or balcony). Only two of the apartments have carports, reflecting changing patterns of car ownership amoung younger generations, while each has dedicated bike storage areas. Passive solar principles and considered cross ventilation inform the project’s planning, while sustainable construction techniques and technologies make the project 98% carbon neutral over its lifetime (Refer to sustainability summary).
The project’s materials reflect the neighbourhood, a varied mix of brick, tin and timber houses, while the form is strong and proud, referencing the nearby legacy buildings of the nearby Knutsford industrial and commercial precinct. Recycled brick planters around the boundary of the site reflect the existing landscape of low fences that define the suburb and help create a tight community. Amalgamated productive gardens and gathering spaces create an external area that is shared between units and with the street. In doing so, the project suggests a deliberate blurring between outside and inside (be it outside an apartment or outside the site) and provokes social and ecological interaction with the broader WGV community.
The development demonstrates the goodwill and enthusiasm of its builder, sub-consultants, and product sponsors, all working collaboratively to deliver the completed project ‘on time and on budget’. As one of the first multi-residential buildings in Australia with a strata agreement governing the usage of a shared PV and battery system, of note is the ongoing involvement of the Curtin University Sustainability Project (CUSP) in monitoring and mentoring the apartments’ energy usage.
Material Used :
1. Roofing: SolarSpan InsulRoof - Bondor - Colorbond 'Surfmist'
2. External Walls 1: Custom Orb - Lysaght - Colorbond ' Surfmist
3. External Walls 2: Axon Cladding - James Hardie- Dulux 'Terrace White'
4. Windows: Aluminium / Carinya suite - SV Glass - Black Powdercoat
