Green design for density
This is an excerpt from an article in Sanctuary magazine issue 19.
For many, apartments are seen as a step in the home ownership process. But when designed appropriately, living in them can be a life choice that ticks all the boxes.
Words Sarah Robertson
Photography Scott Haskins
As our cities fill with more people and as our city boundaries grow, designers, planners and more and more homeowners are realising that a house on a quarter-acre block can be unsustainable financially, geographically and environmentally. Despite this, for many Australians, apartment living is still a stage on the road towards the Australian dream of home ownership, not the final destination.
Apartments and other forms of multiresidential and medium–high density homes have often received a bad rap, perceived as lacking many of the positive attributes of a house– including a mix of generously sized public and private spaces, good views and aspects, and inbuilt diverse and flexible spaces. However, while they may still be the exception rather than the norm, some new multi-residential designs are seeking to show that apartment and other medium-density homes can offer the attributes of a house, with significant benefits for the environment.
Architect Stuart Harrison believes that architects have a responsibility to demonstrate that denser housing is “rich with design opportunities, and more sustainable than bigger housing”.
If you’d like to read the rest of this article you can buy this issue here.
