Housing Choices Australia Dandenong Kennedy Nolan

Built on the land of the Boon Wurrung and Woi Wurrung peoples

In 2009, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced the largest one-time investment in social housing by a government in Australia’s history. The $5.6 billion commitment formed part of a then unprecedented “nation building” stimulus plan intended to guide the economy unscathed through the financial chaos triggered by the collapse of the USA’s subprime mortgage market. Although the government pitched the commitment as an immediate boon to the construction industry – by underwriting projects directly as well as allowing non-profit housing providers to leverage Commonwealth funding in borrowing against an expanded asset portfolio – the influx of capital also drew a new generation of design practices into the low-income housing space, right when crisis conditions were threatening the staple pipeline of luxury private commissions.

Susanne Schindler has At the same time, some of the most imaginative and impactful multiresidential design globally is found not at the hyper-commoditized apex of the market, but instead where governments, non-profit organizations, architects and community groups are partnering to pilot alternative development models or reinvigorate public housing delivery. Examples include Karakusevic Carson Architects and Peter Barber Architects’ work with local authorities and housing associations in London, Lacaton and Vassal’s thoughtful rejuvenation of France’s postwar social housing stock with Frédéric Druot, and the spatial experiments in collective living undertaken by practices such as Pool Architekten, Müller Sigrist Architekten and Duplex Architekten for cooperatives in Zürich.