Project Statement
Following the outbreak of COVID-19 in Melbourne, citizens were forced to dramatically shift their daily living patterns, being limited to the scale of their neighbourhoods in their activities. Many services, entertainment and social venues were no longer accessible, with social distancing requirements even rendering shopping on suburban high streets difficult. What if these changes became long-term or permanent?
Focusing on the inner suburb of Richmond, this project explores a new future for a neighbourhood unit that encourages people to adapt and embrace new living and working patterns and spaces. A strategic insertion of a new mix-used development forms the basis for a socio-resilient hub that provides diverse work and cultural experiences and contributes a new multi-dimensional living space to the surrounding neighbourhood.
The project carefully integrates architecture, landscape spaces and green infrastructure and introduces density into the inner-city block. A unique fencing system allows surrounding residents to negotiate and control their engagement with the new public space. A new green infrastructure that incorporates the existing laneway forms a major landscape spine, which retains water on-site and provides a cool public space in an increasingly warming climate.
