LONG LIFE
LOOSE FIT
Unlike our European and Asian counterparts, Australian cities have been slow to produce appropriate apartments for families to change and grow.
Unlike our European and Asian counterparts, Australian cities have been slow to produce appropriate apartments for families to change and grow.
Architectus Associate Principal Liz Seuseu has led the redesign of Elgin Street Towers, two social housing towers in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Carlton. Once rebuilt, the towers will meet modern standards for ceiling heights, heating and cooling. Importantly, they will also provide four- and five-bedroom apartments, meeting the true needs of the families that will live there.
Reflecting on what the private sector could learn from social housing, Seuseu says flexibility of space is key in promoting apartment living as an alternative to houses.
“The term ‘long life, loose fit’ (coined by British architect Alex Gordon) is particularly relevant to this concept of adaptability,” says Seuseu, who argues for less-prescriptive apartment design to increase longevity and improve appeal.
“We don’t need to design everything to the nth degree. We can let people decide how to use it.”
In the past 15 years, the trend in Australian new-builds has been to design the exact rendered image, right down to the material of the benchtops. Seuseu argues the benchtops should be flexible too.
“In Elgin Towers, we made the kitchen flexible so that people could decide to either put in a dining table or a mobile island. This change also maximised flexibility in the living room, allowing people to fit two couches and two armchairs if they want.”
Beyond furniture and appliances, she also argues for a flexible approach to entire rooms – or cupboards, depending on your preference.
“In the project’s townhouses, there’s a fourth room at the top of the stairs. It can be the home office or the kids play area or the couch with the gaming screen. But we’ve left it up to the residents to decide how they use it. It could be the sewing corner for Mum one year before being converted into a large storage cupboard the next year.”
Great social housing approaches design with an acceptance that we never really know the brief of our end user. There’s no reason the private sector can’t follow suit.
Besides providing flexible appeal, a loose fit-out is more environmentally sustainable, reducing build costs and demolition during retrofits while enabling renters to customise the space to their preferences.
“We can reduce the price and also give resilience to the product through many life cycles of trends, particularly when you’re talking about build-to-rent models,” says Seuseu.
