High Care Housing

• Course

  • • Bachelor of Architectural Design
    Semester 1, 2020

• Studio leaders

  • • Sarah Lewandowski
    Silver Thomas Hanley (STH)
  • • Andrew Curnow
    Carr Design Group

Melbourne is experiencing unprecedented growth in population and built form. With this comes an increased reliance on our public housing and health care systems, that are typically under resourced and overburdened. In March 2019 the Australian Government released a National Action Plan committed to reducing the estimated 2,500 younger Australians entering into aged care facilities each year by finding alternative, age appropriate housing.

This design studio will seek to explore new typologies, methodologies and approaches for the design of a low-medium density housing model that supports the social, emotional and physical needs of the residents whilst seamlessly integrating into the urban fabric of Melbourne’s inner city.

Research into the current situation drawing on resources from the various Government and private entities will provide students with the basis to undertake their own independent reading and precedent studies which will facilitate in-class discussions and charettes establishing the framework for their projects. A series of fragmented design studies will inherently encourage students to explore and test the generators of their design ideas through the iteration of a variety of physical models and developing their ability to employ different communication techniques to explain their conceptual thinking.

This studio will be taught as a collaboration between international award-winning firms and leaders in their respective fields, Silver Thomas Hanley (STH) for healthcare design and Carr Design Group for residential design, and will provide students with real-world experiences and input from other various practice professionals.