What ABC journalist Quentin Dempster learnt about public housing at the Chicago Architecture Biennial.
Instead of demolishing the ugly high-rise flats built around our inner cities in the 1960s and 70s, the Department of Housing could take a cue from architects in the US and revamp our public housing stock to make them more attractive, writes ABC journalist Quentin Dempster.
The veteran broadcaster visited Chicago this month to attend the inaugural biennial 'State of the Art of Architecture', and saw what he describes as "ground-breaking and very cost-effective solutions to transform urban ghettos."
"By craning in prefabricated three- to four-metre floor extensions (verandahs) on each level alongside each flat and then stripping off the grubby grey walls with their tiny windows, the flats have been reborn. Tenants, once faced with insular spatial denunciation as 'housos' in their tiny interiors, report that their lives have been transformed. They can see out. The view comes into their spaces. They have pot plants and sun rooms, enhanced amenity and more recreational and living space," writes Dempster.
"In some configurations there can be even higher density with more bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens and living spaces. With other enhancements they have flowthrough ventilation, more interior light so bulbs do not have to burn all day, thus reducing energy demand. And all at minimal cost for the taxpayer in comparison to demolition and very high contemporary construction costs for replacement buildings."
Dempster said public housing authorities in Bordeaux, France, have adopted the ideas of architects Anne Lacaton, Jean-Phillipe Vasssal and Frederic Druot and modified their housing stock, rather than demolishing and rebuilding. The policy had cost French taxpayers 2.98 billion euros to demolish 113,200 public housing units, Dempster said.
With president Barack Obama's Task Force on 21st Century Policing following the 2013 police shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, and a string of other lethal force incidents with racist overtones, the 'Polis Station' exhibit strives for an architectural solution to black community alienation. Architects
Another exhibit that caught Dempster's eye was from Studio Gang, based in Chicago and New York, who propose co-locating police facilities in community centres with sporting, recreation and cafes (with free wi-fi) encouraging police recruitment from the affected communities with social interaction, forums and educational programs.
Also on show was Offset House, a redesign of the mass-produced timber framed suburban house from Sydney designers Grace Mortlock and David Neustein. "Often bagged as an architectural atrocity by snobs, the brick veneer suburban house or McMansion, with shallow eaves and less than a metre to the (metal) property boundary, had consistently met the market demand in sprawl suburbs for maximum concrete slab floor space and two to three-car garages," writes Dempster. "Mortlock and Neustein say they spent much time at Sydney's Kellyville where for affordability reasons (on top of land cost), most houses fill almost all their allotments. Their challenge was to 'offset' the house's timber frame to reuse the oversized spaces for greater amenity, energy conservation and value adding as the housing markets in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth hot trend to expensive higher rise layer-cake apartments. They say their strategy is to build a new layer of structure within the existing frame, transferring external cladding to the new inner frame thus creating verandahs, sun shading, ventilation and spatial flexibility (downsizing without relocation), with a lower energy demand dividend. The house can be reorientated away from the street, fences pulled down and new common areas created for landscaping, gardens and recreation."
Chicago is staging the biennial until January 3.