Mary Costello May 26, 2012
Habitat 21 dwellings adapt to meet their occupants' needs.
Flexibility, adaptability, the power to reinvent oneself - these are the attributes essential to survival and success in the new world order.
As in life, so it is in housing; we now need residences with the flexibility to accommodate different phases and ways of living, including solo living, coupledom, split and blended families, adult children living with parents, and living with a disability.
If you are happy with your location and your place within a community, there are real advantages to staying in a single, adaptable dwelling long-term, especially given the expense and upheaval associated with moving house.
When Melanie Webber and her husband bought their first home, their priority was just to get into the property market. But after the birth of a third child, they set out to find a place that would accommodate the changing needs of a growing family.
''When our daughter was born, we realised we needed a larger home,'' Webber says.
''We tried to buy a home for the future, so a flexible house was of paramount importance. With stamp duty, legal fees and the costs of moving, we knew we weren't going to be able to move house again. We realised if we could find a home to see us through the kids leaving home, we'd be better off financially in the long run.''
When house-hunting, the Webbers planned for a time when their toddlers would be teenagers.
''We wanted a home intimate enough to be able to see kids playing in the garden while cooking dinner, but large enough for them to disappear for some privacy as teenagers. And we wanted a bedroom for everyone that would be large enough to accommodate a desk as they got older,'' she says.
''We also wanted separate living areas for older children's privacy and parental sanity. In our new home we have a formal lounge for mum and dad and an informal lounge/toyroom for the kids. At the moment, the bi-fold doors between them remain open. As the children morph into teenagers, I am sure they'll enjoy being able to close off the area, and so will we.
''Kids are staying at home longer now, because it's so expensive to buy a home. We wanted a house big enough to see them through uni or an apprenticeship, whatever it may be … Our home is big enough for us to grow into.''
Webber also appreciates the intangible benefits of a house where a family can put down deep roots. ''When you know you're not moving, you have the added benefit of being able to plant fruit trees and reap the rewards years down the track,'' she says.
''And it's nice for the kids to have a family home, one they've grown up in, full of wonderful memories. We love our home. It has been well worthwhile, buying for the future.''
The focus on housing for different stages of life was acknowledged through Habitat 21 - a demonstration project that produced five versatile dwellings designed to explore ''new ways of building for life in the 21st century''.
The project was a collaboration between VicUrban, (now Places Victoria), the Department of Planning and Community Development, Monash University and a team of architects and builders. The residences feature flexible living plans with movable walls to allow for the modification of the living spaces, depending on the owners' changing needs.
BKK Architects designed one of the Habitat 21 properties in collaboration with Third Skin sustainability consultants. The director of BKK, architect Julian Kosloff, says the design aimed to provide maximum flexibility to suit a number of lifestyle options, with a particular emphasis on the state government's Build for Life housing initiative, devised to promote the design of accessible homes.
''Wrap House was designed for a couple as a home within which they would spend the rest of their lives,'' Kosloff says.
''It's a two-level residence but designed in a manner that allows it to be modified in time to accommodate a full-time carer on the first floor, with the couple living on the ground floor. It featured wider circulation spaces, bathrooms suitable for people with a disability and easy accessibility from the street.''
BKK has dealt with clients whose brief is for a home that can be adapted as they age.
''This is challenging and requires a master plan for the home that considers different scenarios and outcomes,'' Kosloff says.
''At a micro level, practical items such as handrails in showers and dumb waiters from basements need to be considered as part of the overall design aesthetic. The rise and run dimensions of a stairway can have significant bearing on the usability of these residences.''
Kosloff says the trend towards working from home has also affected design.
''The manner in which we work and live has changed considerably over the past decade. The option to work remotely blurs the distinction between the office and home. Most clients seek to integrate the two in some form. Considered design enables these disciplines to coexist in a manner that respects boundaries between family life and career.
''Adaptable homes anticipate and celebrate change. They also respond to the current social and economic climate. They challenge ideas around the domestic and consider alternatives to the way in which we work.''
Architect Graham Crist, of Antarctica, another of the architectural companies involved in Habitat 21, says the demand for adaptable house design is a result of owners' changing needs over time, coupled with a desire to stay in one home.
''This is driven by such issues as retirees downsizing and ageing in place, families becoming more diverse, children moving out of home at a later age, housing affordability limiting choices,'' Crist says.
''An adaptable house caters for a wide range of social arrangements within a single building envelope. So rather than move house as your needs change, your house might adapt to you.
''The house designed by Antarctica, working with Monash Architecture Studio, imagined a series of different living arrangements possible within a relatively small three-bedroom house: an ageing parent living semi-independently with children; adult children doing the same with parents; or two separate groups sharing one house.
''The house was equipped for wheelchair access and featured a bedroom wing with a potential separate entry, with the capacity to house someone living semi-independently, or to accommodate a home office.''
Places Victoria advises that all five of the Habitat 21 houses have been sold. If there is sufficient interest, Places Victoria will consider engaging a volume builder to take the designs to the marketplace.