• Investigators

  • • Nigel Bertram
    • Maryam Gusheh

• Co-investigators

  • Catherine Murphy
  • Tom Mogan

• Undertaken within

  • Monash Urban Lab

Given that at least 80% of today’s homes will still be occupied in 2050, the retrofitting of dwellings is a sustainable way to meet different needs and purposes, such as working at home or ageing in place, as well as enhancing environmental performance and functionality like accessibility. However, currently most modifications and renovations of housing are done in an ad hoc manner that rarely factor in longer-term and strategic opportunities for improvement.

Studying Common Housing Types in Sydney

Reaching out from Monash to Sydney, we traced and investigated the common house types that proliferate across metropolitan Sydney, in order to consider their potential for at-scale retrofitting. This formed part of 'Tracing Sydney's Common Housing Types', a studio that is part of Monash Architecture in collaboration with Government Architect NSW.  This studio engaged with Sydney-based architects and regulators committed to better quality and more equitable cities.

We identified and studied the various types of houses that have been built at scale post World War II, and devised strategies that can improve these homes for better social and environmental performance.