2023 ArchitectureAU Award for Social Impact: Commendation

Jury citation

This innovative project was delivered through an academic and practitioner collaboration involving NMBW Architecture Studio and Monash Art, Design and Architecture (MADA). It was awarded an Australian Research Council Linkage grant to reconsider the design of accessible, affordable housing and to create a spacious apartment block in northern Melbourne.

Within walking distance of a railway station, primary school and shops, St Albans Housing sought to develop a flexible design for its occupants, some of whom are mobility-compromised. Housing Choices Australia’s quota of 50 percent older adults could have set the tone for the building, but the seven apartments were deliberately designed not to feel like an aged-care village.

Originally conceived as a clever reconfiguration of the “six-pack,” the building’s formal qualities are characterized by galvanized cladding and distinctive roof pitches. St Albans Housing offers its residents dignity, beauty and accessibility, which in turn impact the whole community in a low-key but extraordinary way.

For more coverage, see the project review by Rachel Hurst from Architecture Australia Mar/Apr 2022.

The ArchitectureAU Award for Social Impact is organized by Architecture Media, publisher of ArchitectureAU.com, and presented in partnership with the Melbourne School of Design and supported by Latitude, Peptolab, and NHO.