Since 1987L I T T L E B L A C K B O O K O F H O U S I N G

Part 1Susta inab le Urban Form

Preface

This collection of thoughts, facts, images, drawings and studies of completed residential buildings, emanates from a series of

lectures given by me on the subjects of sustainability and housing, between 2008 and 2009 at Curtin University and The Australian In-stitute of Architects (WA Chapter).

It is a discourse, presented from my vantage point, at this time of our West Australian community’s self reflection, on the topic of housing. It is also a summation of my twenty year exploration of residential building forms which may allow us to evolve into a genuinely com-plex and sustainable urban community.

My goal is to provide you with an empirical understanding of what might be the boundaries of sustainable urban form and to dispel as many dogmas about housing as might fall across our paths along the way.

Background

My exploration of built form and of urban architectural language has three key factors, which may impact on any purely impartial

views that might be expected of me as I explore here with you the empirical boundaries of sustainable urban form in Western Austra-lia.

Firstly, I was born and lived a significant part of my early years in Mauritius, reported to be one of the most densely populated plac-es on earth. Yet all I remember are sweeping cane fields, chiselled mountains, beaches of course and most vividly; colonial city homes beautifully engaged in the business of community, unapologetically dignified in their privacy.

Secondly, I was a migrant to this country (arriving at the age of thir-teen) and as most migrants have, I evolved my sense of Australian-ness from the inner city, namely Highgate, North Perth and Ingle-wood.

Finally, as a young architect I worked for Oldfield Knott Architects, where I was immediately plunged into the fullest meaning of the “do-ing” of architecture, mostly in Subiaco, which was the first suburb to reinvent its inner city, worker village heritage, into a modern desir-able residential commodity.

Bevan and Ian (Oldfield and Knott) formed their architectural practice out of Len Buckridge’s who formed his out of Krantz and Sheldon’s.

My architectural journey began there in the early 1980’s. Since that time I have designed and completed over a thousand residential buildings in Australia and overseas, ranging from single homes to flats, motels, luxury apartments, high rise apartments, resorts and of course residential additions.

The Author

Jean-mic du Buisson Perrine was born on June 11, 1960 in Mau-ritius. His secondary schooling was at CBC Highgate, he went

on to study Architecture at WAIT (Curtin University), graduating in 1983.

Jean-mic gained registration from the Architect’s Board in 1986. In 1987 he and his wife Mercedes formed Perrine Architecture. Jean-mic has created , local, national and international buildings through Perrine Architecture and as design director of Perrine & Birch (1991-1999).

Locally, he has been responsible for some of Western Australia’s most beautiful and celebrated buildings including:

Box Building, Hay St. Perth (City of Perth 2004 Inaugural Heri-• tage Architecture Award)The Galleria, Northbridge (Royal Australian Institute of Archi-• tects Commercial Design Award)The Colonnade, Subiaco (City of Subiaco Centenary Award, • MBA Construction Industry Excellence Award, Joint winner with North West Gas Platform.

His works in residential architecture have been published extensive-ly nationally and internationally over twenty years and have been the recipient of numerous Housing Industry Association and Master Builder’s Association awards.

The Sunday Times Magazine (February 2004) named Jean-mic as one of the 50 most influential West Australians in recognition

of the impact of his architectural work on the lifestyle of the com-munity.

IndexCrisis what crisis? 08

Markers along the way 16

94 & 96 Bagot Road 18

1a Primrose Street 24

Box Building 30

Standardisation & Mass Production 36

Olivia Terrace 42

8 Victoria Avenue 44

Garratt Road 48

Housing Transients 50

The Takeaway 54

Crisis what crisis?

I recently developed a fascination with statistical analysis of what I may have purely “guessed” for 20 years. Bernard Salt’s incisive

demographic study The Big Shift (2004) started me on the way. This relatively recent empirical foundation has led me to a hardened view of why we are in such a dilemma over housing. Importantly it must be said at the outset that this dilemma is over one of our fundamental “needs”; shelter. Yet a sustainable model for it and for our continued evolution into a complex society eludes us here in Western Australia. Just as, it seems, do the root causes of the dilemma.

I want to share only some important statistics with you; only those that point to a schism between understanding the problem and find-ing solutions.

All of the statistics referred to here are from the 2006 census by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and widely available. I provide extracts from the original ABS electronic document, augmented in some areas by my own charts taken from the ABS data.

The first set of statistics is well known. It relates to the number of persons who occupy a dwelling. This statistic affirms our evolu-

tion from family based dwellings (around 4 persons) two generations ago, to 1 and 2 person dwellings forming the majority of our dwelling tenure.

And what a majority it is 58% of dwellings are 1 and 2 person dwellings.

Over dinner Jan Güel, visiting Perth in late May 2009, told me that in his native Denmark 60% of dwellings are now single occupancies.

The statistical trends for our own evolution point firmly to that fu-ture.

Australian Bureau of Statistics

Cat. No. 2068.0 - Census Tables2006 Census of Population and HousingAustralia (Australia)HOUSEHOLD COMPOSITION BY NUMBER OF PERSONS USUALLY RESIDENT(a)Count of occupied private dwellings (b)

Family households

Non-family households

(c)

Total

Number of persons usually residentOne -- 1,740,483 1,740,483Two 2,223,979 212,195 2,43v6,174Three 1,087,944 40,413 1,128,357Four 1,104,375 19,207 1,123,582Five 485,229 6,464 491,693Six or more 221,234 2,573 223,807

Total 5,122,761 2,021,335 7,144,096

(a) Includes up to three residents who were temporarily absent on census night.(b) Excludes ‘visitors only’ and ‘other not classifiable’ house-holds.(c) Comprises ‘lone person’ and ‘group households”.

Extraordinarily though, despite this 1 and 2 person majority in dwelling occupancy, which by some logic ought point to an ur-

ban dwelling form, the overwhelming association when one speaks of the housing crisis in Australia, is to the availability of suburban lots and green field sites for subdivision.

That fundamental disconnection between the perception and the re-ality underscores one of the main reasons why we are not getting to the heart of the problem.

A recent news headline lauding the benefits to first home buyers of the First Home Buyers Scheme pictures a prominent project home builder impressively before an empty block of land, project home plans in hand the headline reads;

‘First home grant fuels land boom’.

Why, should it?

Is it the case that these 20/30 something yearolds, seeking their first home insist on it being a suburban home? Or is it the case that the suburban home has been portrayed effectively by heavily vested in-terests (as in this headline) as their number one and only option? Or is it the cost impost of urban dwelling forms which creates the nexus Home=Land?

Amongst the influences which shaped our community, the ethos (possibly) perpetuated by land developers over the post WW2 gen-erations, encapsulated in these two mantras; “The great Australian dream is that of a 1/4 acre block” and; “Is it double brick?”, have largely dictated the physical form of our 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom, West Australianness.

KATE CAMPBELL

Land sales have soared as a result of a flood of fIrst-homebuyers, with new figures showing the number of blocks snapped up in WA has more than doubled in the first three months this year.The Urban Development Institute of Australia’s weekly snapshot of 12 major developers revealed 1744 blocks were sold in WA from January to March compared with 839 lots in the three months leading up to the introduction of the Federal Govern-ment’s tripled fIrst-homebuyer grant for new homes in October last year. The average number of land sales each week in WA in the three months to October last year was 64. That average has ballooned to 134 blocks a week. UDIA WA executive director Debra Goostrey said land sales had rebound-ed significantly from their lowest ebb on record before the boosted

grant was introduced. She said the in-creased grant needed to be extended to give the second and third-homebuyer markets a chance to strengthen. A UDIA spokeswoman said most land sales recently had been about the $200,000 mark. The median land price in the December quarter was $226,000. A widening two-tier property market, with a thriving first-homebuyer sector and an idle middle and upper level, has leading Perth developer Dale Alcock calling on the Federal Government to introduce a $14,000 boost to all non-flrst-homebuyers building a new house until the end of the year. Mr Alcock also said if the first-homebuyer scheme was axed after June 30, many people who were slow to react would miss out on the chance to enter the housing market and hundreds of trades and ap-prentice jobs could be lost because the recovering market would immediately stall. “The Government would get all that back in GST revenue anyway, so

it would be at no cost to them and it would provide more jobs,” he said.“I’d like to think that the Federal Gov-ernment has got some sophistication in their thinking to say there are a lot of people who would like to build now because interest rates are low they’ve got a job and prices are down so let’s get in and take advantage of that. And as an employer of 300 apprentices, I want to keep them in employment. “ Master Builders Association of WA housing director Gavan Forster also called for an across-the-board new home grant of $14,000 to run for six months because boosting the hous-ing sector was the quickest way to generate jobs. “We need something to get that market (new homes from $400,000 to $1 million) moving and certainly a buyer’s grant for non-first-homebuyers would do that” he said. “They’re just hesitant and sitting on the fence and they just need someboost to get them over the line.”

First-home grant fuels land boomThe West Australian - Saturday, April 11, 2009

The second series of statistics I want to explore are importantly linked to the first set.

It is affirmation of the surreal attraction and fascination that the house and land package has for Australians that in 2006, 81% of dwell-ings built in Western Australia were single homes on detached lots and only 6% were flats.

This despite the fact that 58% of dwellings are occupied by one and two persons.

This gulf from “need” to “want” means that 52% of dwellings in Western Australia have two or more bedrooms above their ac-tual requirement. The statistic is 42% nationally, meaning that Western Australia’s profligacy with built form exceeds the national average by around 25%.

Put in simple arithmetical terms, 52% of the total housing stock of Western Australia in 2006, being 827,000 dwellings, equates to a staggering 430,000 spare bedrooms and their associated corridors, linen cupboards, etc etc.

827,000 x 52% = 430,000 spare bedrooms 430,000 x 9sm/bedroom = 3,870,000sm

or 25,000 dwellings of 150sm

BUT...

Australian Bureau of Statistics

Units 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 20071 Number of occupied private dwellings (a) ‘000 673 686 708 718 724 740 756 772 789 806 8222 Public sector dwellings completed ‘000 1.0 0.8 1.0 1.0 1.1 0.9 1.0 1.1 0.8 0.9 1.13 Private sector dwellings completed ‘000 13.4 15.4 16.8 18.8 16.6 16.3 17.4 17.5 r18.6 r20.8 23.7

Dwelling structure - selected (b)4 Separate house % 82.5 82.0 n.a. 80.1 80.5 n.a. 81.2 83.5 n.a. 80.5 n.a.5 Semi-detatched % 10.9 12.8 n.a. 14.4 14.1 n.a. 13.4 12.5 n.a. 13.0 n.a.6 Flat % 6.5 5.2 n.a. 5.3 5.4 n.a. 5.3 3.5 n.a. 6.1 n.a.

Housing utilisation7 Average persons per household no. 2.68 2.60 n.a. 2.60 2.63 n.a. 2.50 2.51 n.a. 2.42 n.a.8 Average bedrooms per dwelling no. 3.15 3.13 n.a. 3.18 3.19 n.a. 3.25 3.25 n.a. 3.21 n.a.9 Household with 2 or more bedrooms above

requirements% n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 51.3 n.a. 52.2 n.a.

10 Households with insufficient bedrooms % n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 1.5 n.a. *0.9 n.a.

TENURE & LANDLORD TYPE (c)Units 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

11 Owner without a mortgage % 35.9 37.0 n.a. 32.6 35.2 n.a. 34.1 31.2 n.a. 29.8 n.a.12 Owner with a mortgage % 34.6 33.1 n.a. 37.4 35.3 n.a. 37.1 38.1 n.a. 39.8 n.a.13 Renter - state housing authority % 5.2 7.0 n.a. 5.6 4.1 n.a. 4.7 4.0 n.a. 4.0 n.a.14 Renter - private landlord % 17.6 18.7 n.a. 19.3 21.2 n.a. 20.1 21.9 n.a. 20.2 n.a.

HOUSING COSTSUnits 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Owner, mean weekly housing costs15 Without a mortgage $ 17 18 n.a. 18 21 n.a. 21 20 n.a. 24 n.a.16 With a mortgage $ 194 189 n.a. 201 207 n.a. 228 247 n.a. 322 n.a.

Renters mean weekly housing costs17 State housing authority $ 66 59 n.a. 67 61 n.a. 77 r81 n.a. 81 n.a.18 Private landlord $ 126 134 n.a. 137 144 n.a. 160 r168 n.a. 180 n.a.19 Rental cost index (d) (e) index # 107.6 109.3 111.0 113.4 115.9 118.0 119.8 122.3 125.5 129.5 139.5

20,000 West Australians are homeless and if not strictly home-less then awaiting state housing placement. It is inconceivable, in

what is surely a just and equitable society such as ours, that 430,000 bedrooms lie empty. Unused repositories for cardboard boxes, dis-used home gym equipment and the like whilst an unacceptably large number of West Australians remain homeless.

Then government architect Geoffrey London commented on the na-ture of our homes in 2007. His call for smaller homes may be partial-ly a solution, but the real solution lies in a more complex redefinition of what we consider to be sustainable dwelling forms.

A recent parliamentary hearing in Western Australia identified that there were 20,092 applicants on the waiting list for public housing in February 2009. In response to this fact, the new housing minister Troy Buswell stated that Federal and State programs would “dwarf” the efforts of previous governments and that this substantial new effort would yield 2,600 new dwellings over the next two years. The minister also added in June 2009 “This Government recognises that there is a shortage of supported accommodation acrossWestern Australia and we need to look at innovative solutions to the problem of homelessness,”

Further reinforcement of the public sector’s commitment to deal with the problem emerged strongly in 2009 with the establishment of the Social Housing Taskforce. However the very best endeavours of the public sector and of government do not begin to dent the monumen-tal edifice of the housing crisis. Under a best case scenario over the next 18 months, only about 10% of those waiting for housing by the public sector will be accommodated, yet it is certain that the combination of natural population growth, economic uncertainty and a likely fall in housing starts, will combine to create a far greater in-crease in the numbers waiting to those being accommodated.

The changes to the status quo must include a major rethink by pri-vate enterprise of its social responsibilities in respect of housing

and of the need for a fundamental shift away from the single free-standing house on a greenfield lot as the panacea to the crisis.

JESSICA STRUTT & AMANDA BANKS

The waiting list for public housing has blown out to a record 20,000 applicants, while the Department of Housing and Works expects a $20 million revenue shortfall this year because of a slump in land sales. Department director-general Grahame Searle told a par-liamentary inquiry yesterday that the agency’s revenue would be 36 per cent down this financial year. He said the department had expected to sell about 3000 blocks but would fall more than 1000 short. Revenue was also affected because land prices had fallen. He also revealed

that departments had been asked to develop policy guidelines the Government would use to decide whether to make a funding invest-ment in remote communi-ties. Outside the inquiry, Mr Searle said the department, through joint ventures, de-veloped about 14 per cent ofthe blocks available in Perth. He told the Upper House parliamentary subcom-mittee investigating the Government’s mandated 3 percent budget cuts that his department would achieve the $1.9 million in savings it had been asked to find this year. It was revealed in Parliament that there were 20,092 applicants on the waiting list for public hous-

ing in February - a figure Mr Searle confirmed in the inquiry Housing and Works Minister Troy Buswell said State and Federal programs would “dwarf” the efforts of the previous Labor govern-ment by boosting social housing by 2600 dwellings over the next two years. The first stage of one of the joint State-Federal programs, a $70 million project to build 286 social housing dwellings in WA by July next year, was unveiled by Mr Buswell and Federal parliamentary secre-tary Senator Mark Arbib in Perth yesterday. Mr Buswell said the project, which also involves the release of State land worth another $40 mil-lion and is part of the Rudd

Government’s $42 billion Nation Building Economic Stimulus Program, would provide an important boost to social housing stock but there was a need for broader changes to the public hous-ing system. “The construc-tion of these new homes will be an important part of our efforts to move more West Australians off the social housing waiting list and into actual homes,” he said. Mr Buswell, who had commis-sioned a report on overhaul-ing the way public -housing was provided, expected the Government’s role would be reduced dramatically under long-term policies.

20,000 wait for State housingThe West Australian - Thursday, April 9, 2009

Time to embrace smaller city homes: top architectBEN SPENCER

West Australians should embrace more high-density apartments and English-style terraced housing to help solve the unprecedented housing affordability crisis, according to a leading architect. Professor Geoffrey London, the State Govern-ment Architect and a profes-sor of architecture at the University of WA, said Perth was destined for an inevi-table shift towards smaller, less-expensive apartments and “row” housing, which was resilient and adaptable and would open up newoptions to fIrst home buyers. Professor London said a de-cline in smaller, apartment-style homes had “almost certainly” contributed to the State’s housing afford-ability crisis by reducing the pool of entry-level housing and the State’s constrained housing sector desperately needed greater diversity. According to the Austra-lian Bureau of Statistics, detached houses were 80 per cent of the dwellings approved for construction in 2006, compared with just

70.8 per cent in 1990. While there was evidence of new apartment developments around the city, Professor London said Perth had bucked the national trend, with multi-residential activ-ity falling since the early 1990s while the national aveage remained about 30 per cent. “Demographic shifts that are causing changes in household struc-tures, construction cost es-calations and environmental conscience are factors that will combine to force change in the Australian housing sector,” he said “We seem to have quite a number of high-rise apartments being built or proposed “We need more diversity of apartment type - smaller, less expen-sive, low rise, as well as the ones that are currently being built.” Professor London, who was appointed in 2004 to advise and oversee public works, foreshadowed tighter restrictions on developers as a way to force change. He said several cities, includ-ing Vancouver in Canada, required any new apartment development to provide at least 20 per cent of “afford-

able” units before develop-ment approval was given. Professor London said that while the typical household of a couple withchildren had remained rela-tively constant in numbers, the proportion of “couple only” households had almost doubled and the proportion of single person households had increased by a factor of 17. “These demographic trends have not translated into a change in the profile of housing types in WA, with the proportion of two to three bedroom dwellings dramatically displaced by four-pIus bedroom houses in the past 25 years,” he said Demographer Bernard Salt said Perth was easily the most suburban of Austra-lia’s capital cities, largely because much of Perth had been developed post-World War II in the eraof the motor vehicle. He said Perth lacked the inner-city “funk factor” of Melbourne and Sydney and therefore there had not been a lure for people to live closer to the city, though that had started to be addressed in suburbs such as Subiaco and

Northbridge. “There is now this demographic demand coming from the lifestyle of Perth people that is at odds with the cultural history and I think it has taken a while for ‘Perthlings’ to actually come to grips with this to run counter to their gut and their history of suburbia and to embrace inner-city living,” he said. Master Builders Association hous-ing director Gavan Forster said that while it was the industry’s responsibility to provide alternatives, there were already plenty of two-bedroomunits and apartments being produced in redevelopment areas. Being able to have a decent-sized house, within five minutes of the city, convinced Ariane Owen, of Subiaco, to move into a terraced house on Catherine Street last year. “It’s great to live in a house, and yet still be so central,” she said. “I could never live in a little apartment, but I still want to be close to everything, so this is perfect. “

The West Australian - Monday, August 13, 2007

Markers along the way

In this section I explore some urban forms which I have created over twenty years. The use of my own works as examples, amongst

many fine works by other architects, is essentially so that I may com-ment with first hand knowledge as to their influences, efficacy and as to their sustainability on a social and economic basis. These build-ings have been accepted by the mainstream public as markers of the boundaries of sustainable urban form and have been extensively covered by national and international media. I do not include many of my earliest works which had lesser success, architecturally and socially, but I acknowledge these as important to my understanding of what may be sustainable.

Beyond this section of specific examples of urban form that may of-fer pointers to sustainability and equity in housing, I further explore the testimony of those that live in built form on the very edge of what has been considered sustainable, so that a real and empirical base can be formed to further aid practitioners of architecture and urban planning in exploring and finding solutions to our housing problems.

RICHMOND STREET, LEEDERVILLE - PERRINE & BIRCH C1992

47 FORREST STREET, SUBIACO - PERRINE ARCHITECTURE C1998

94 and 96 Bagot Road, SubiacoWhen the owners of a Subiaco character home went to subdivide their property, they discovered it already had three separate titles.

The result is two homes which are ideally suited to an inner-city lifestyle…both have three bedrooms and two bathrooms and all rooms are well sized.

Chemical engineer Patrick Flynn…wanted a place with character, low maintenance and close to his work.

The two-storey house spans the full 3.6m of the block and sits comfortably within the sur-rounding streetscape, despite its offbeat façade.

“It’s an easy house to live in and would be ideal for a single person or a couple…it’s cer-tainly perfect for anyone who enjoys the inner-city lifestyle,” [Patrick said.]

- Miniature marvels, The Sunday Times Homes Magazine, September 26, 1999

“

”

Around 1995 Perrine & Birch were commissioned to obtain a planning approval for two unlikely freehold titled lots in Subiaco,

which owed their existence not to planning intent but to serendipity.

The two freehold blocks of 180 sm. resulted from easements for rights of way, which had been created very early in the 20th Cen-tury and consolidated into lots. Discovering the happenstance after acquiring the primary lots to which these titles were annexed, the owner sought to create two infill homes, adjacent to what were, by Subiaco’s standards, substantial homes on large blocks.

The challenge of these narrow laneway like lots, with their ~4 metre widths was enthusiastically embraced by Perrine & Birch, where I had undertaken several such challenging projects as design direc-tor.

What resulted are two, 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, homes covering ap-proximately 130 sm. each of internal area. Eminently livable for one, two, three and possibly four people. The narrowness of the lots, the need to meet Rcode compliance and deliver high amenity, combined to create two unique homes in the context of Perth which point, to-gether with much of the stock of early Subiaco, to an entirely sustain-able lot size of 180sm and, more importantly, to a minimum sustain-able lot width that might be somewhere between 3.6 to 4 metres.

The houses have continued to appreciate in their value, selling re-cently in June 2009 for ~$780,000; attesting to the livability and sus-tainability of this form, size, and accommodation of dwelling.

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S)BAGOT ROAD SUBIACO - PERRINE & BIRCH C1995

At a recent lecture at the WA Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects, noted architect, academic and author, Simon Ander-

son pointed out that the average size of project homes in Australia was 260sm. and that in his recent book on Australian housing, Si-mon, and co-author Geoffrey London and a number of other leading architects, had explored the nature of what an ideal project home of 260sm might be, if designed by an architect. The book Take 7: Housing Australia – how architects can make a difference (Ander-son & London, 2008) is excellent reading, and important to the full understanding of current thought in Australian architectural circles on housing.

Despite the quality of solutions offered in the book for 260sm dwell-ings, I am nevertheless convinced that sustainable housing should aim at internal areas of 130-150sm. for 2 and 3 bedroom solutions, and that these forms should be the majority of our housing stock in proportion to the demographic of one and two person dwellings.

94 and 96 Bagot Road points to the sustainability of narrow lots. Subiaco is full of extraordinary housing form dating to the early 20th and late 19th centuries based on an ~4m-5m grid. Excellent ex-amples still survive in Park Street amongst others.

Such block dimensions; 180sm in area and approximating 4m in width, form an essential ingredient for sustainably high density for one and two person dwellings where low rise is preferred to high rise.

Box Building - 918 Hay Street

“ ”Apartment design in Australasia is still developing a criterion todeliver quality inner-city spaces that understand an urban life - as opposed to transporting suburban principles to urban spaces.

- Australian Design Trends, Volume 18 No. 11

In 1999 I undertook the development of a project at 918 Hay Street Perth, both as a developer and as an architect. The lot, which

houses Box Building, is 13.6 metres wide and approximately 670 sm. in area. It is located in the West End precinct of Perth.

Under the then Town Planning Scheme, 30 apartments were able to be developed on the site and were. Car parking for 35 cars and a gymnasium are housed with the apartments in the rear two thirds of the site (in blue in the adjacent diagram). A bar and restaurant on the ground floor and a large apartment are housed in the historic front building (in yellow), which occupies approximately 250 sm. of the site.

Box Building was created at the very emergence of the West End as an inner city village. A village which might sustain a complexity of activities which Jan Güel, in his publication ‘Public Space and Pub-lic Life Perth 2009’ describes as ‘the mixed city’, offering the ideal ingredients for long term sustainable urban vitality. Box Building in-corporates single and two bedroom forms as well as three bedroom dwelling forms. Many see Box Building, Kingsgate, Durham House and Wills Building as essential catalysts that sparked the West End into dynamic “mixed city” life.

The smallest one bedroom apartment at Box Building is 69 sm. and at that time (C.2000) was seen by both the local market and

by authorities to be a “very small” apartment. My view having lived in the apartments, is that much smaller (than the Box 69sm) one bed-room built forms are entirely sustainable and later in this discourse I explore the nature of these.

Box Building’s structural grid and innovative precast methodologies, industrial manufactured bathrooms and kitchens were the precur-sors to the evolution of a personal quest for a universally affordable, near instant housing solution, which evolved to be the Perrinepod project.

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S)BOX BUILDING, HAY STREET PERTH - PERRINE & BIRCH C1999

1a Primrose Street

“

”

Designing for urban life and small blocks is routine for many architectects and designers these days, with urban infil redevelopments and changing lifestyles. But according to Jean-mic, only a handful does it well.“It’s a real challenge these days to create a space that offers a sustainable lifestyle. There is an extraordinary failure rate of small block residences to be relevant. Most people can’t handle the confined nature of some designs - the lack of proportion, the lack of light, the lack of exaltation really”, he says.“With this house, I continue my exploration of fifteen years on how to make urban spaces, small spaces, sustain-able and spirit-lifting“So does the house lift the spirits of it owners? “it exceeds our expectation,” Trish enthuses. “I am so happy with its light filled, serene spaces. It feels fantastic.”

- Jan Walker - INSITE Magazine March 2005

* WOOD & ANOR and TOWN OF VINCENT [2006] WASAT 159; Matter No. DR 654 of 2005.

1a Primrose Street built on a 9m x 20m infill block, which grew out of the Town of Vincent’s recolonisation of Primrose Lane, is an

important benchmark in reinforcing the viability, sustainability and demand for one and 2 person dwellings. The home is a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom home with a total internal area of around 130sm. Built for $320,000 in 2005, it sold recently (2009) for ~$1,200,000.

The built form evolves out of the structural and philosophical bench-marks established at Box Building; that quality affordable and sus-tainable housing form is directly linked to the application of the most modern, industrial technologies. Precursor to the Perrinepod proj-ect, the house was individually designed, but still built of methodolo-gies that allow for mass production. Finishes and details are entirely industrial.

1a Primrose Street delivers to the street important resolutions on a small lot; the need to house 2 cars, the need for courtyards both North and South, and the absolute need for privacy. The front court-yard unashamedly offers privacy to the occupants whilst offering a high blank sculptural form to the street. *The State Administrative Tribunal found on appeal that the nature of the wall and its architec-tural resolution acted to ensure privacy to an “active outdoor living area”, and that this outweighed the arbitrary wish of Council(s) to have visually permeable, ~1.2m high front fencing solutions as man-datory design requirements for the precinct.

Participating in community is about choosing to live, eat, walk and recreate in a precinct. It does not involve giving up to others, rights over our privacy, particularly where front courtyards are involved.

The nature of urban areas where many of these infill dwellings now find way, are no longer a white picket fence, leave the front door open utopia; but are hard, confronting and in the nature of their ur-banism. Councils and urban planners need to adjust their thinking to these realities and the overriding elements of privacy and security for front courtyards, rather than hark for the white picket fence or wrought iron laced images of eras past.

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Standardisation & Mass Production

By first hand occupation within many of the dwellings I have cre-ated, I have developed a lexicon of elements, sizes and features

that are essential in creating sustainability on small lots. However, the absolute edges of sustainable urban form, I have only explored over the past 5 years through friends and first hand contact with those who inhabit such forms.

In this part of the discourse, I feature one such personal testimony as an important benchmark. It is from Karl Powell. I use Karl as an example of the urban dweller demographic which is shortly to be the predominant dweller type within our society. Karl is a student of philosophy at university, a qualified gym instructor, and sought after barman at some of the city’s establishments. He is a single dweller.

Karl is an important asset to the complexity of layers, that are re-quired to create a truly sustainable “mixed” complex city. “Frazier and Niles” on every street corner, at every bar and every restaurant, is otherwise a frighteningly real possibility given the homogeneity of new dwelling options available to people in the inner city. In many ways, in Western Australia, Karl and the future dominant demograph-ic that he represents of the single dweller, relies almost entirely on the architectural and entrepreneurial, skills of architects who applied their trade in the 1940’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s to maintain an urban life at the end of the first decade of the Twenty First Century.

Many people fall within the demographic of Karl, and many like him enjoying a cosmopolitan urban life, owe that privilege to architects who designed and sometimes developed, flats of one and two bed-rooms in the 1960’s and 70’s in the inner areas of Perth. Built forms created by Krantz and Sheldon, Oldham Boas and Ednie Brown, and Len Buckeridge, in the late 1960’s and 70’s are amongst built forms that were harangued out of existence by a new breed of urban planners who saw density, height and modernism as anathema to then suburban aspiration for Western Australia.

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* As Homeswest works from a guideline that no household should be paying more than 25% of their gross income in rent, and the maximum eligibility income threshold (for a family of four) is $840 per week total, the maximum rent paid to Homeswest by a household for rental could be no more than $210.00 per week

http://www.dhw.wa.gov.au/Files/homes_rentpol.pdf (page 27)•

The true worth of those buildings, that house Karl and his demo-graphic is explored by Peter Monks in his work on High Rise

Housing in Perth - Past, Present and Future Perspectives (Monks, 2003, p22). Mr. Monks, now Director of Planning & Development at the City of Perth makes the following point which is essential to understanding one of the fundamental drivers to solutions for our housing problems.

“the most significant influence on Krantz and Sheldon was that they came to understand the important concepts of standardisation and mass production in producing work”. Work that in the words of Le Corbusier sought to resolve the problem of housing “that cannot be solved by the provision of millions of little cottages scattered over the face of the country side”. (Cited in Monks, 2003, p16)

Karl makes the following points about his space,

If he were not here, he would have to look for alternate • lodgings well away from the city and would not participate in its activities daily.$250 is the maximum rent he can afford per week.*• The 36sm space is adequate and sustainable for a single • person, it would be tight and uncomfortable for two.

His 1 bedroom apartment has been his home for 3 years. In order that you might understand the empirical boundaries that Karl is de-scribing, I appended on the facing page a model of his home. The dwellings were built with the most precise resolution of form and function then available to them by architects like Krantz and Shel-don. A ~6m x 6m grid delivering, an internal area approximating 36 sm. with a balcony across the entire face of the building. Cross ven-tilation is achieved by opening the entry door to the service corridor, which is open to the elements.

Karl’s key pointers above and the fact that these built forms are al-ways at 100% occupancy offer us strong clues on sustainability and the efficiency of this housing form in serving a large percentage of our population.

The practical application of mass produced housing finds a con-temporary expression in the Perrinepod modules which evolved

out of my earlier works. The ~8m x 3m prefabricated concrete module is the basis of 24sm components, which can be placed next to each other endlessly, stacked easily or bonded in any particular arrangement to deliver modular flexible and expandable housing forms. The internal componentry is also modular and the product of industrial production rather than traditional building techniques.

The first commercial delivery of these modules was in 2008 in Carnarvon, a Western Australian coastal town. The project consists of four, 1 bedroom 48sm apartments and two, 2 bedroom 72 sm apartments. The 48sm apartments result from the application of two 24sm modules as the optimum one bedroom configuration, taking direct lessons from both the success and limitations of the Krantz & Sheldon 6m x 6m modules, critiqued earlier by Karl in terms of livability.

Importantly for the amenity of the resident, not only does this mod-ule offer approximately 33% more living area than the 36 sm mod-ule, it also sets out to create a much higher level of amenity by the way of volume, creating 2.7 metre ceiling heights (instead of 2.4m). The level of finish in these apartments is industrial but the materi-als are the highest quality and in recognition of the important new values, they are ecologically sustainable, visually in the mainstream and engineered for extremely long life spans. What is essential is that these modules deliver the key factors required to successfully house Karl’s typical demographic;

the ability to be housed for approximately $250 per week• .enough room to feel comfortable (more than 36sm) and• ;structurally able to be replicated en-masse and at very • high densities in extremely short periods of time.

A 48sm module using Perrinepod methodology can be delivered, structure and all internal and external components in a matter of three days at a cost of around $2900 per square metre.

OLIVIA TCE, CARNARVON - PERRINEPOD C2008

At 8 and 10 Victoria Avenue the internal componentry of the pre-manufactured Perrinepod technology has been used to deliver

1 bedroom studio apartments which occupy approximately 44sm of space.

The ~3m x 8m grid of the Perrinepod has here been turned on its side and a mezzanine floor inserted over part of the area to deliver a mez-zanine style apartment with living over the lower 24sm of space and bathroom, bedroom and small study alcove on the upper mezzanine area which occupies approximately 20sm. The modules have been placed atop an existing office building which has been refurbished into apartments. A small balcony completes the accommodation.

The existing concrete roof of the Len Buckeridge, designed building of the early 70’s was reinforced and the existing structural grid used to house the modules.

The resulting apartments reinforce the viability of single bedroom modules of and around 40 to 48sm as both desirable to the market-place and sustainable urban built form which is likely to satisfy the bulk of the demographic housing needs over the next century for one and two person dwellings. The built form further reinforces that nar-row dwellings, in this case ~3m wide also deliver sustainable urban built form.

The average retail selling prices of the dwellings in 2008 was $420,000.

8 VICTORIA AVENUE, PERTH - PERRINE ARCHITECTURE C2009

In Bayswater a dwelling is being built encompassing the sum of the lessons noted in this discourse to date. It is a house that can grow

to accommodate the future family of the two owners and at some time beyond that generation’s growth into adulthood, shrink back again to accommodate the original two occupants.

In one entirely viable scenario, the kids can take with them in the sec-ond metamorphosis of the house, modules from the original to begin their own housing evolution. Like the Perrinepod modules many new generation modular homes are able to be partially recycled.

Should the modules not be taken for relocation, then the house can be used, post its family phase, as two autonomous dwellings. This provides the owners with the ability to downsize, as well as offer economic options to a redundant two spare bedroom. As the nature of occupancy changes, an opportunity is created for more people to be housed in the existing built form, which is achieved here by apply-ing the full benefits of “hospitality” industry thinking to the residential market.

The idea of fully autonomous “twin keyed” residences is a must even today, but it should be an essential requirement of new housing stock. In that way, the redundancies of bedrooms and changing occupancy can be redressed meaningfully. In order to properly achieve this, lo-cal authorities need to review their opposition to multiple kitchen and services cores in single houses. Such opposition, is misguided and severely impedes the recycling of built form to useful multi occupa-tion dwellings.

This fundamental shift for local governments needs to be accompa-nied by meaningful re-assessment of regulations, design guidelines, policy statements and a plethora of “touchy feely” regulations, which ignore the empirical bounds of deliverable sustainable urban forms, in exchange for nostalgic aspirations which ignore the realities of our community’s real housing needs.

GARRATT ROAD, BAYSWATER

Housing Transients

To conclude this first part of my exploration of sustainable urban-form in Western Australia, I want to highlight in passing, a form of

housing which has near disappeared with the evolution of the central CBD area into a desirable permanent residential location. Yet for generations, it has formed an essential part of this society’s hous-ing mix; the hostels and accommodation for transient persons are a near extinct dwelling form.

In a recent presentation by Phillip Mangano, Executive Director, US Inter Agency Council on Homelessness; he set out the background whereby federal funding in the US under Clinton/Bush administrations for homelessness increased from $400,000,000 to $1,200,000,000 and yet that growth in expenditure saw no abatement in the rate of homelessness but in fact he noted, there was a significant increase in the problem.

Mr. Mangano continued to recount that fifteen agencies in the US then set about to research the cost of homelessness to the federal government by tracking individual people in fifteen different cities. What they discovered according to Mr. Mangano was that the cost of looking after the homeless varied from $35,000 US to $100,000 US per person per year, based on the impact of the homeless on hospitals, ambulances, fire brigades, welfare agencies etc. San Di-ego’s study was carried out over 18 months and put the costs up to $200,000 per person per year, in some cases.

Mr. Mangano noted in closing that the cost of providing housing with basic services was, at that time, approximately $25,000 US per person, and that many local government agencies throughout the US had since signed up to 10 year plans with the state and federal governments to provide housing to solve the long term problems as-sociated with the homeless, and break the nexus with the approach of handouts and emergency responses to their continued habitation on city streets.

This issue was brought sharply into focus by one of my employees who recounted that one of his young friends was a street person in the interim of their awaiting Homeswest accommodation and that their circumstances had continued to deteriorate as the wait contin-

ued to grow.

Returning to some of the original statistics that I highlighted at the outset of this paper, it is clear that 20,000 persons awaiting Home-swest accommodation is a fundamental social justice issue. It is one which the West Australian (Barnett) government has sought to deal with in establishing its Social Housing Taskforce. Housing Minis-ter Troy Buswell, on June 20th 2009 opened a new supported ac-commodation facility in Perth city, established through a partnership between the State Government and UnitingCare West. This is an important first step by government and welfare institutions in chang-ing the status quo; private enterprise must assist further in moving the agenda forward.

I foresee, the need for a planned deployment of housing modules, less domestic in their appeal and much more pragmatic in their in-tent, to deal with the problem en-masse, perhaps combining 24sm and 48sm modules to allow for varied occupancies of one to three persons “twin keyed” in essentially permanent accommodation mod-ules, but designed for transient or transitory dwellers including those on the public housing waiting lists.

The Takeaway40-48sm provides a minimum sustainable urban dwelling for a • couple or a single person. This module represents a fundamen-tal building block for sustainable housing solutions.

24sm bedsit modules must form a part of a total solution aimed • at eliminating homelessness whilst on public housing waiting lists.

Narrow lots around 4m in width and 180sm in area are sustain-• able and were the backbone of medium & high density worker villages such as Subiaco, North Perth and Highgate for genera-tions.

Architects and planners need to explore existing models with • more scientific and social precision to foster new forms rather than dwell on traditional residential forms.

Dwelling forms need to change from static built forms to morph • able & fluid forms. ABS figures show that 75% of all occupi-ers under 24y.o have moved in last 5 years, 51% of 25-44y.o have done the same. Even 33% of 44-55y.o moved in the last 5 years. Why build a static form as a dwelling?

The definition of a single dwelling must alter to allow multiple • occupancies and services within a single house.

Every new dwelling must be twinkey designed to eliminate • wasted building assets such as redundant bedrooms and foster changing occupancies with ease and efficiency.

The public sector is not in a position drive change in the volume • required to alter the status quo in this area. Change in volumes to achieve critical mass must be design driven and emanate from the private sector delivering sustainable financially viable architectural solutions.

19th century building techniques perpetuate inefficiencies and • grossly inappropriate dogma restricting the evolution of hous-ing.

My thanks to

reece harley: researchermatthew shaw: researcher

roel loopers, david morecroft, emma van dordrecht: photographersmal birch, tony lemme, paul mcdonald: perrine&birch

the ludicrously young team: perrine architectureserge pecoult, joe impicciatore: perrinepod

bevan knott, ian oldfield, peter little, gary baverstock

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