Overview
Inhabit industry responds to a brief for several houses and gardens on a site in Wickham, just outside the CBD of Newcastle. The concept was to exhibit the suburbs history as a dense neighbourhood of workers cottages and industrial infrastructure and express the neighbourhoods most recent ambition to consist of a fine grain of small and micro business.
The plan is primarily driven by extending the patten set by apartment blocks to the east and then curving this form around the corner. Unlike the adjoining apartments the bulk of the building is broken into small lightweight boxes that could be arranged by a central crane to suit its occupants needs.
The project sought to be a hybrid between two major precedents, the nakagin casual building and 25 green. Ground floor spaces where kept small with a small shopfronts under most homes and stairs to access sleeping and living areas above. Bedrooms where densely packed into the first floor, envisaged as a module wide enough for a bed with a wardrobe hung outside, the theory was to save room on washing lines by putting louvred windows either side of the wardrobe to dry clothes once they’re hung up. Bathrooms and service areas where wedged into the second floor and living areas sat above and where broken into simple spaces with a small balcony. Finally above was a roof top terrace to act as private outdoor space.
The form was meant to reflect the eclectic material pallets of the neighbouring workers cottages and their recent additions. The scheme allowed for a large common raised garden, living this space added smaller ground scape amphitheatre and seating spaces adjoining each home and a larger central field for games and kids to play on.