The idea of alternative community built housing has been advancing in private  developed  housing estates overseas for some time. 

What started out as Co housing, Denmark, and Village Homes, Davis, California, (a social and water sensitive urban design experiment), has recently morphed into ‘Pocket neighbourhoods’ in North America. What is a ‘pocket neighbourhood’?

“Pocket  neighbourhoods are clustered  groups of neighbouring houses or apartments, gathered around some sort of shared open space- a garden, a courtyard , a pedestrian street , joined backyards  or a reclaimed alley. They can be in urban, suburban and rural areas.”  Chapin R. ‘Pocket neighbourhoods’, Taunton, 2011.  This book also includes some regional examples, such as ‘Earthsong’, Auckland, NZ, and ‘Christie Walk’, Adelaide, AU.

The community building challenge

One challenges, is the build cost outside of the land cost, which is usually fixed. If the community end owners can be identified early in the build process, they can save cost by donating their labour in helping each other ‘barn raise’ their small studio houses, which can be easily extended, once family and income scenarios change.  This would be enabled by a ‘creative common’ design library, an accurate digital CNC cutting process, and an error free and friendly self-build construction system.

Is there such a system? Yes!

Wikihouse.cc, London, has recently launched their Blackbird2 system, which has been Beta trialled on a small kiosk building recently in the UK. This system includes pre assemble (or site assembled) beams, columns and floor and wall cassettes. See www.wikihouse.cc website, which shows a YouTube video of the recent assembly, which took only  6 days to erect  through some of the worst English weather of all times!

Is this possible to do as ‘wikihouse’ method in Australia? Yes!

Through setting up a local chapter Wikihkihouseau.com, together with a RPEQ engineer, we have slowly worked through all the building approval issues in Australia.  We have sourced an eco-friendly OSB board from Switzerland, local CNC companies to CNC cut , (with optional preassembly through to full assembly of Blackbird2 parts) and project management services  as required.

We have worked out a process by which RPEQ engineering design certificate (Form15) and Origen Architect’s co ordinated drawings can be released at the time of the CNC ordering/cutting and the signing a EULA (End User Licence Agreement).

Based on this idea, Origen Architects have simple designs for staged single and double storey studio home designs.  The urban design is based on a Community Oriented  Made Project  Abodes Together (COMPAT) approach, which includes 225 Sq. M of site area/unit  with community assets such as,  active plaza spaces, edible walkways, vege gardens, Men’s/Sheilas’ sheds  and additional pocket carparks  for overflow parking.

(See top image for birds eye view of the pocket neighbourhood)

Provided we can achieve a 20 unit plus COMPAT community we can economically source third party supplied and maintained infrastructure items on an operation basis (OPEX), as opposed to capital expenditure items (CPEX) basis, thus saving further on the initial building development cost. Some OPEX items include:-

-Solar PV panels such as integrated PV solar/HWS ‘Tractile’ 4 in 1 roofing

– Local mini grid reticulated and metered power supply

– Reticulated and metered HWS

– Sola-Drive provided electric car, as long as the community runs up at least 15,000 Klms /year. This will be easy across 20 units as each will have a business day/month access and an optional bookable week end day use.

-Local community intranet site.

Conclusion

The idea of living in a single dwelling unit or in a town house /apartment can be an isolating experience for many.  But post Covid-19 we may have also to reassess this in the light of increased ‘social distancing’ and ‘lock down’ isolation affecting our mental and social health. However a half way approach consisting of single dwellings , arranged within a ‘pocket neighbourhood’ may become an attractive housing alternative for a more diverse demography, E.g. of married couples, young families, recent immigrants, and active retired people, who together, are more likely to have a variety of skill sets to assist each other in initial neighbourhood construction, home extensions and the ongoing maintenance and social cohesion within the community. This diversity could create unity, and house and community pride in abundance.

By Graham Osborne, Origen Architects P/L

Origen Architects, has over 25 years  experience as lead architect on remote and challenging projects such as the Couran Cove Resort, Eco cabins and Wilderness lodge, South Stradbroke Is. and the Sport Super Centre, Runaway Bay, respectively. Currently it is  project architect co-ordinating  the principal consultant team  on ‘Centralia’,  Alice Springs Airport site,  through the various ‘mile stone’ stages of the ‘Centralia’ Master Development Plan (MDP). This includes including a ‘5 Wave’ surf pool,  movie studio and sports development and retail precincts.

Recently Graham has proposed the benefits of integrating off- site and on-site construction procurement methods, principally using the Wikihouse Blackbird 2 system for single/double storey buildings. Graham is an advocate for the social, economic and community benefits in ‘place making’, such as the above ‘Centralia’ project, which will offer remote indigenous communities, the access and training in ‘whole of life’ skills.

 As well as being the  Right Tracks P/L lead architect, Origen Architects, are also a participating member of the Integrated Design for Sustainable Living (IDSL) international consultancy group,  which advocates community based, sensitive remote destination resorts and ‘living villages’.