EXPERT ADVICE
(^) // ARCHITECTURE
THE BURSTING BUBBLE
Designing the homes, cities and communities of tomorrow
WORDS // PETER COLQUHOUN
I
magine, if you will, a balloon slowly
fi lling up with water. This is how I see
our cities expanding year after year. New
land is released and enormous houses
are built on these enormous blocks, the radius
of our cities stretching. As the seams reach
ever further out, it puts increasing demands
on resources and infrastructure; if left
unchecked, the whole thing eventually bursts.
Increasingly our design community is
focusing on smaller, more effi cient homes or
multiple dwellings on standard-sized blocks.
This makes sense for several reasons: it helps
ease the housing shortage, it makes building
more effi cient, puts less strain on resources
and consolidates infrastructure.
Alas this means we don’t get to have a
pool room, dining room, separate media
and games room and four-car garage. But I
argue that suburbs full of large homes are
equivalent to architectural obesity. Sooner
or later we’ll have to put ourselves on ‘spatial
diets’ and demand options for smaller, more
effi cient quality-designed homes.
“Ahhh ... here we go again!” I hear some
cry, “another architect banging on about poor
design in our suburbs.” But consider this.
Yes, our homes have become status symbols,
however this is nothing new. In cities around
the world where space is at a premium, the
rich have always lived in medium- to high-
density homes close to the action.
Venice, once the richest city in the world
and arguably one of the most beautiful, is
made up of waterside terrace palaces — dukes
and merchants living cheek-by-jowl, side-by-
side. The multi-millionaires of Manhattan
all live in apartment blocks and towers. In
London and Paris, the most expensive streets
are lined with terraces; here the wealthy live
in what we would consider medium- to high-
density environments.
In Oz we have space to burn — and we
do. We continue to build out into the never-
never with mega-sized suburbs made up of
supersized homes. In a continent as large
as ours this is an easy temptation, but is it
sustainable? I acknowledge that the building
industry is a critical part of our economy and
should remain so, but as resources dwindle
we need to focus more on multi-residential
options, building types that allow more
people to live comfortably close to our city
and town centres.
As you read this, local and state
governments are working on easing
restrictions, allowing multiple dwellings on
smaller-sized lots. This will allow more people
to live closer to infrastructure, and at the
same time ease housing aff ordability.
The homes of tomorrow will need to have
more shared facilities, including cars and
gardens that provide communal produce,
power and washing facilities. Homes will be
increasingly designed as adjoined groups as
opposed to individual structures.
Many future architects may never get
to design a large individual house; rather,