Open House Melbourne 2023 – A Spectrum of Intention: A Decade of Evolution in Citizen-led Housing in Melbourne
As part of Open House Melbourne's 2023 program we hosted a progressive tour on Saturday July 29th. The program theme this year was #collectivecity and so we were well placed to participate!
Our tour was called A Spectrum of Intention: A Decade of Evolution in Citizen-led Housing in Melbourne. We wanted to show people what is possible when citizens work to collectively pursue their vision of a better housing future.
Along with Dan Demant from Six Degrees Architects, Zen Architects, WestSide Cohousing Collective and Urban Coup we ran a progressive tour visiting three deliberative housing projects of different scales, exploring the trade-offs residents have needed to make between private and communal space.
The point of the tour was to demonstrate how land and development economics constrain your ability to affordabily deliver communal spaces. We showcased three deliberative housing projects of different scales, looking at the trade-offs that residents have needed to make between private and communal space. These trade-offs were driven by project budget and different levels of intended community interaction, from proximate to interactive and intentional.
Stop number:
- 4 homes at McCracken Avenue in Northcote by The Saint George Collective - a proximate community of 4 townhouses on 480 square metres with just a communal carpark.
- 10 homes on Victoria Street, West Brunswick by The Victoria Street Collective - an interactive community of 10 apartments that will achieve an average 8.7 star NatHERS on 1200 square metres. The projects features communal car parking designed around a shared garden and connected to the WestWyck ecovillage, which was Australia’s first One Planet Living development.
- 31 homes at Hope Street, Brunswick by Urban Coup—a fully intentional community of 31 apartments within Nightingale Village. The site includes a generous common room, shared courtyards and guest/flexi accommodation.
Stop #1: Northcote
Stop #2: Brunswick West
Stop #3: Brunswick