Competition winners create quality and innovative designs for Canberra's future housing

Architect Melinda Dodson took out first prize in the ACT NEAT competition for alternative housing options.

This week Tony Trobe talks to Alan Morschel, a councillor at the Australian Institute of Architects' ACT chapter and a judge for the latest architectural design competition for NEAT housing.

TT: The New Experimental Architectural Typologies (NEAT) housing competition has concluded. What were the results?

AM: The ACT Chapter was very pleased with the response. In the few weeks of designing, registered architects from around Australia prepared 61 submissions. A unanimous decision by the jury, after detailed consideration of all submissions, identified fourwinners from a shortlist of 11. The judges were impressed with the high quality of the innovative and exciting ideas.

TT: What sorts of ideas were submitted?

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AM: The competitors were asked to be innovative and they were. But they were also quirky, humorous, personable, exciting, complex, and intriguing. To address the expanding and changing range of demographic cohorts in Canberra, the competitors explored a broad range of housing typologies. A wide range of approaches, including courtyards, terraces or mews, flats, granny flats, and mixed use with shops, and offices, were addressed. Affordability was mostly addressed by rule breaking, especially in the areas of density and dwelling sizes. A large number of proposals had studios with very small floor areas. Other dwellings shared facilities such as laundries and kitchens. All architects broke some planning rules that show their currently restrictive nature and suppress the options available for sustainable housing typologies. Car-parking numbers, density of dwellings, and setbacks were commonly challenged.

TT: What defined the winners?

AM: The fourwinners all questioned prevailing attitudes to housing in Canberra, and provided sensitive and thoughtful alternatives. The second-placed proposal provides an innovative and fresh approach to increasing densities in Canberra. It explores the notion of the "bush capital" by maximising green spaces at grade and over dwellings. By submerging private open space into sunken courtyards, and living areas below ground, this entry considered a novel response to the thermal conditions of Canberra.

The use of prefabricated dwelling blocks which can be added at and above grade, provide flexibility in living configurations to respond to the varying demographics, and allows alternative densities and building heights.

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Competition winners create quality and innovative designs for Canberra's future housing