Q: Housing? A: Infill.

The exam is beyond ridiculous. Jobbing architects know that the process is as important than the product. Sometimes more so. And nowhere is this more evident than in the missing middle: inserting infill housing into existing suburbs runs the full gauntlet: difficult sites, unrealistic clients, negative Councils, activist NIMBYs, and reluctant banks. It’s a hard slog, mostly well rewarded, occasionally not..

Recent reports by the NSW Productivity Commission and Investment Victoria have shown that the optimum place for new housing is in old suburbs, and recent columns have shown that older typologies, are the new concepts. It’s back to the future, twice over. Firstly, there are always underutilised sites within existing suburbs that provide ideal opportunities for increased density, of better quality, without a loss of local amenity. These may be brownfield or greyfield, private or public, large or small. But all have the possibility for better housing..

The missing middle is term we are hearing a lot in this housing crisis. Originally coined to describe a lack of housing development in middle ring suburbs, it proves helpful in ways other than planning. It can describe middle density housing, missing in the ‘low-rise vs high-rise’ debate. It could also describe a middle way compromise on housing policy, between federal Labor and the Greens that is so far MIA..

There’s lots of talk right now about what to build for the 600,000+ houses that Australia needs right now, and much of that focusses on sustainability. So, last week I weighed in with the proposition that the most sustainable precedent we have is right under our noses: it’s 3 to 4 storey walk-up flats. Some scoffed. Some laughed. But I ask you to look beyond the stark outline, the textured red and orange brickwork and the wiggly wrought iron to see the inherent possibilities in a past modest form for a future sustainable typology..

What is the brief for the most sustainable residential development? What is the most fully rounded solution to best address the triple bottom line of environmental, social, and financial considerations? The surprising answer can be found in nine criteria that are all running in one direction..

The ternary suggests there is always a third alternative in our binary world. One issue is housing where the binary is homes or high rises, but neither is sustainable. Detached homes are low in density, far from services, requiring energy hungry cars on underutilised streets that are ground killers. By contrast, high rise units increase the density, and hence proximity of residents to services, but have massive energy demands for lifts, AC and exhausts. A third way is low + close..

Last week’s column on the major shift in Australian politics and life, from binary to ternary, raised a few questions, such as where did the name ‘ternary’ come from and how did I come to that notion. First answer - easy, computer theory. Second answer - bit harder, but it gets to the heart of this column’s main interest: design and politics. Like many, I am constantly disappointed in the quality of political journalism in this country, its limited horizons, its right bias and, more than anything, its complete lack of understanding of the importance of design..

For so long, Australia has been a binary nation: Indigenous + Invaders. Labor + LNP. Men + Women. Cities + The Bush. Owners and Renters. But seismic shifts are happening. We are moving to ‘ternary’, or base of 3. Now everything is ‘three-way’. Noel Pearson, in his searing analysis for ‘The Voice’, identifies indigenous, white settlement and multiculturalism. The demise of the LNP in the last two years has seen the rise of Greens, Teals, and Independents as a third force..

They say those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it. When it comes to social and affordable housing, it seems the Albanese government – with its Housing Australia Future Fund – is content to disregard the lessons of the past. Traditionally, public housing has been provided by the states and built with federal taxes. When poverty increases – after wars and crises – most countries increase public housing, but not in Australia..

In a rarely reported story this week, the town of Austral was destroyed entirely by a climate related event. More than 100,000 residents were made homeless. Curiously, no government has acted to help them in any way, and even curiouser, there has not been a hue and cry in the media about this dereliction of responsibility. Actually, the town of Austral is Australia, and the townspeople are the homeless…

When a minority could maximise social housing. Those disappointed by the unedifying sight of Federal Labor bringing forward a pitiful housing policy can take some heart from the result in the NSW elections. As predicted in this column last week, Labor will form a minority government, with the Greens (who have a decent housing policy) holding the balance of power…

Housing is most often seen as a product, not a process. As hard as it is to design good houses, the process to get affordable housing built is way more difficult. For 70 years the easy option has been to keep building further out, at the fringes of the city. But we’ve reached the outer limits: the look-alike McMansions are too far from Melbourne’s city centre, new suburbs lack infrastructure…

on bankrupt builders, politicians, chemists, housing, palm springs -

Among the many bad ideas from project managers, one of the worst was novating the architect to a builder once approval was received. The intention was to have the architect and builder collaborate in preparing construction drawings for a better build. The resulting ‘design / construct’ approach proved a disaster for quality control…

on booksellers, vinoly, AUKUS, acronyms, bookends -

William Stout, legendary bookseller for over 40 years in San Francisco, has sold his eponymous bookstore, and his personal library, to the Eames Institute, who sat down with him to discuss his life, legacy, and what he considers his rarest…

Australia loves suburbia. We are the most suburbanised OECD nation: more than 40 per cent of the population in two extended cities, 70 per cent in 10. But as I’ve written before, we’re ruining that suburban dream by building houses twice as big on blocks half the size, devoid of gardens and trees, further from city centres and amenities, and with fewer residents in each home. So what might we do about it?

on currency, architects, housing, nimbys, bookends -

Some good news from the Reserve Bank of Australia - that’s not a thing you hear a lot. King Charles will not replace Queen Elizabeth II on the fiver; instead, indigenous motifs will be incorporated. Back to the future from ‘66 when the introductory $1 note had the Queen on one side, indigenous graphics on the other…

We would like to congratulate our very own Michael Connolly on his recent achievement! Michael was awarded the AIA NSW Undergraduate Medal at the 2022 Student Architecture Awards last Friday for his individual studio project ‘The Motion Repository’. We are very proud of the talent in our team, and want to take the opportunity to celebrate their work both in and out of the office. See his project here.

I grew up in suburban Melbourne and Sydney in the 1960s. I was lucky. You could walk or cycle to schools and shops; lots of places to explore; modest bungalows on large blocks with backyards for play, and sport with local children; birthday parties under Hills Hoist tents; the beach was close by bus or tram. It’s a world away from contemporary suburbia: far from the city centre and water, without public transport…

In the last three years, I have written 150 articles for Architecture and Design as ‘Tone on Tuesday’, covering all aspects of design, in popularising difficult ideas, and particularly in the relationship between design and politics, social housing and sustainability. In this last week of A&D for 2022, I am pleased to publish an index, with links, to all those articles as encouragement for some provocative reading over the coming holidays.

Congratulations to Tone Wheeler LFRAIA, 2022 Life Fellowship Recipient.

Life Fellowship is the highest honour available to members practising architecture in NSW and is awarded to members who are currently Fellows of the Institute. They have rendered notable contributions to the advancement of the profession in design, construction, literature, education, public service or in any other way deemed worthy of the honour of Life Fellowship.