A new multiresidential project in the outer-Melbourne suburb of St Albans by NMBW Architecture Studio in association with Monash Art, Design and Architecture (MADA) is an architectural version of “person-first” language. Yet it also demonstrates the power of non-specific terminology, where spaces that can’t be conventionally labelled hold the key to the success of the place. Conceived as a thoughtful reconfiguring of the six-pack, the project redeems this much-maligned typology with some muscular working out of the flab in our planning regulatory systems and accessibility codes.
The architect was determined to build in the opportunity for neighbourly social interactions; half the undercroft is reserved as public space.
The architect was determined to build in the opportunity for neighbourly social interactions; half the undercroft is reserved as public space.
Architecture Australia readers may be familiar with the project from an essay in the May/June 2018 edition, “The Space of Ageing,” 1 which outlined the collaboration between the Urban Lab at MADA and not-for-profit client Housing Choices Australia (HCA) on an Australian Research Council Linkage grant to develop new models for ageing-in-place. The intent to deliver a “dignity-enabling” low-rise apartment building was then at developed design stage. Three COVID-interrupted years later, the built result is remarkably faithful to the initial scheme.
Previously an archetypal quarter-acre block of units, the site was developed under HCA’s “build- to-rent” policy to provide four storeys of accessible, affordable accommodation. It’s a no-brainer for amenity – within walking distance of railway, primary school and shops, it suits the brief for a highly flexible design for mobility-compromised occupants. While HCA has a discretionary quota of 50 percent older adults, the seven apartments were not to feel like an aged care village. “Each apartment needed to be able to be used by anyone,” says NMBW principal Nigel Bertram. The inaugural cohort consists of a mixture of families, singles, seniors and people living with a disability.
Inviting, semi-public spaces foster acts of community and self-determination, while NMBW’s fondness for contemporary Japanese architecture is evident throughout.
Dignity-enabling’: St Albans Housing (Architecture AU)
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Image: Peter Bennetts
