Most new apartments, for instance, are built for investors rather than owner-occupiers, says Tom Alves, head of development at the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute. What people want isn't the only factor that decides what gets built.
"We went from having a six-month waiting list for our projects, and then that blew out to two years." Will any of these homes actually get built? "One of the big things COVID has done has made people think, 'Hey, we might spend a lot of time here in the future and it's worth doing it well.' In Canberra, where she works, public servants have been spending money on their homes, rather than on overseas holidays. Residential architects have seen a big increase in demand for their services, said Shannon Battisson, national president of the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA). ( Supplied: Urtzi Guillermo Covid Retrospect / Urtzi Grau and Guillermo Fernández-Abascal) The designs included a much greater focus on community and connection, including shared amenities for apartments, as well as verandahs, walkways, and verge gardens to connect neighbours.Ī block of units in the Sydney suburb of Campsie imagined with terraces, balconies and porches, as well as interconnecting walkways. In March this year, a Brisbane exhibition featured the work of 10 Australian architects who had been invited to develop new concepts of the home and residential environments. Though Australia doesn't yet have its own version of The Barnaby , architects are working at imagining how our houses and apartments might be better designed to suit our needs. "I don't see larger homes being a trend, but I do see major improvements in quality." So what do these future homes look like? He also believes homes won't get much bigger. "In homes and the apartment space, people are really assessing what's beyond their four walls," Mr Massoud said.
One reason for this may be the rise of WFH: We're taking greater interest in our local community. People want to live in urban environments that are within walking distance to parks, cafes, pubs, restaurants, and the like. That change is reflected in demand for home offices.Īn apartment construction boom in capital cities over the past decade has seen a focus on quantity over quality. "Half the people we spoke to in the survey said they were looking for a hybrid working arrangement going forward," Ms Sarcasmo said. The most recent survey showed a clear shift in thinking, said Diana Sarcasmo, head of design at Mirvac, which has $26 billion worth of assets under management in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. "Our clients are also exploring the viability of optioning flexible furniture systems and moveable walls to enhance space flexibility." From study nook to home officeĮvery two years, property developer Mirvac surveys customers about what they're looking for in a house or an apartment. "Providing spaces in the home that can be used in many ways is key to a successful floor plan, especially when designing to smaller square footages," Ms Keenan said. The idea is that a whole family (The Barnaby was designed for a Millennial couple with two young children, where one parent works from home) can use the one house for lots of different things, all at the same time.
( Supplied: Dahlin Group)Īlong with this, there's a scattering of tiny "pocket flex spaces" that could be used as smaller studies or walk-in wardrobes. The Barnaby's two dedicated office spaces are on separate levels, to minimise disruption.
The Barnaby's design choices were informed by the America at Home study, which surveyed more than 6,000 US adults in 2020. So, what does an ideal post-COVID Australian home look like? And will any actually get built? Enter the 'flex space' The dedicated home office is king, and there's generally greater appreciation for good design and quality of construction.ĬOVID-19 shone a light on all the pre-existing problems with our housing and asked us to do more with our houses, including working from home (WFH). What about in Australia? Here, the property industry is seeing demand for features like those of The Barnaby (though not four bathrooms). The team of architects, social researchers, and marketing experts that dreamed it up say every detail is informed by insights from a survey into the impact of the pandemic on homes and communities in the US. In case you haven't guessed it yet, this is a design shaped by the pandemic. A secret room hidden behind a book case in The Barnaby demonstration house.
0 kommentar(er)
