Replicable Apartment Designs win Victoria’s Future Homes competition

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The Victorian government has announced four winners in the Future Homes competition seeking exemplar apartment designs.

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The Victorian government has announced four winners in the Future Homes competition, which sought exemplar apartment designs that could easily be replicated across Melbourne’s suburbs.

The competition is the first phase of the Future Homes project aimed at producing apartments that could become world leaders in design, sustainability and liveability.

The winning proposals deliver high quality living spaces, useable communal spaces that encourage interaction between neighbours and designs that could be adapted to suit the needs of a changing population.

Two winning schemes – from Spiral Architecture Lab and Lian (with Finding Infinity and Openwork) – propose modular systems that could be arranged in various ways to suit different household types.

The proposal by Design Strategy Architecture in collaboration with Includesign creates two shared outdoor spaces connected via stairs to foster community connections.

McGregor Westlake Architecture’s winning entry proposes a landscape-first approach, which will generate a network of gardens across a suburban block.

The winners will now work with the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) and the Office of the Victorian Government Architect (OVGA) to refine their entries into design models.

“We are  planning  for a better Victoria by designing world-leading apartments that are more energy efficient and spacious, and have plenty of green space,” said planning minister Richard Wynne.

“These new designs will set new  benchmarks  in sustainability and liveability – helping create a new generation of apartment living that’s  better, smarter and healthier for the whole community.”

The government also announced it will adapt one of the winner’s designs and construct a demonstration project in partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services.

“This means one of the competition winners will receive further paid work during the construction of a Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) building,” Wynne said in a letter to competitors.

The winning designs will also inform potential planning reforms and future social housing developments.

The competition jury comprised Jill Garner (Victorian Government Architect), Sadie Morgan (founding director, dRMM), Koos de Keijzer (principal, DKO), Jan McRedie McCredie (urban design manager, Urban Design Manager, City of Parramatta), Jennie Officer (director, Officer Woods Architects), Tony Isaacson (chair, Robn Robin Boyd Foundation and former director of Kane Constructions) and Matt Cohen (director, development approvals and urban design, DELWP).

The winning schemes and four other shortlisted schemes are on exhibition at the Melbourne School of Design until 24 May. They will also be part of the A new suburban ambition exhibition at Monash University until 5 April.