Monash Urban Lab and others take first place in Australian Government’s Department of Health and Aged Care competition

• Investigators

  • • Mel Dodd
    • Maryam Gusheh
    • Catherine Murphy
    • Nigel Bertram

• Co-investigators

  • NMBW Architecture Studio
  • BoardGrove Architects
  • BLOXAS
  • GLAS Landscape Architects

• Partner organisations

  • Department of Health and Aged Care

• Undertaken within

  • Monash Urban Lab

Monash Urban Lab with NMBW Architecture Studio, BoardGrove Architects, BLOXAS and GLAS Landscape Architects, won first place in the regional town category of the Australian Government’s Department of Health and Aged Care Reimagining Where We Live design ideas competition.

The competition invited architects and designers to help shape the aged care accommodation of the future by testing the draft National Aged Care Design Principles and Guidelines by using them to design innovative aged care homes that are welcoming, safe, accessible and dementia-friendly, and that consider small-home models.

The winning entry, Manu Place, is a complex of shared homes, cloisters, courtyards and community facilities in a landscape setting, where older residents’ lives are enriched and dignified through a melding of functions and activities with carers, workers, visitors and the community.

The Jury commented: “This is an outstanding proposition which critically addressed the Principles and Guidelines with a strong and appropriately scaled low-rise spatial program sensitively and intelligently embedded within the site context and neighbourhood.”