Housing Research

This research program will build the research strengths that the new Monash Architecture staff brings to their positions. The research program is led by Professor Shane Murray, whose main research interest is the investigation of the relationship between architectural design and contemporary housing. In the past, Professor Murray has been a recipient of research funding from both industry and government, including the Australian Research Council, and he continues to conduct research into contemporary housing issues. Senior lecturer Diego Ramirez’s practice and research focus is on design for low-cost, sustainable housing. He has worked with government and the private sectors in research and development towards affordable, sustainable housing design solutions and has written extensively on the subject.

Designing Affordable Sustainable Housing (DASH)

This pilot study will involve research that demonstrates how design can make an effective and efficient impact on medium-density housing development in inner and middle-ring sites in Melbourne. By creating innovative models for affordable, multi-unit housing, this project will demonstrate to government, developers and ultimately home-buyers the critical contribution that architectural design can make in producing enriching and inspirational urban form, as well as environmentally and socially sustainable dwellings and open space. Issues such as planning regulation, liveability, marketing, demographic and household structure, varieties of density models, typology, financial modelling and sustainability will be researched and developed in a way that will fully underpin the design process. The result will be new designs for cost-effective housing that can be successfully marketed to developers and to those potential homebuyers who are currently not adequately catered for by the market. The project is a partnership between the Office of the Victorian Government Architect, the Department of Planning and Community Development, the Office of Housing and the Monash Architecture, Monash University, which will undertake the work.

Ageing of Aquarius Stage 2: Designing Housing for Australia’s Baby Boomers

An ARC Linkage application is being put together for the project The Ageing of Aquarius: Designing Housing for Australia’s Baby Boomers. This project will produce a range of new housing types for the baby boomers that address their housing needs in retirement. Underpinning this design process is an enquiry into the contribution that architecture can make to the broad provision of housing through the articulation of embedded design knowledge. To do this, the design side of the project will be supported by market research that explores how the spatial arrangements of architecture can be made more communicable and marketable, and therefore the design skills of architects better understood and valued. Housing will be designed for a number of small, in-fill sites in the inner and middle ring suburbs situated within close proximity of each other. The land assemblage will involve a range of block sizes close enough in an area to create a sense of connectedness and community for the occupants. The design process will address such conditions as the way baby boomers work, their relationships, the structure of their family units, the nature of their leisure, how much mobility they require and the forms of communication they need to fulfil their lives.