Ep. 8: Tour of "The Commons" (in Melbourne) // The Essential Housing Campaign

Learn More:
housinginnovat...
Jeremy McLeod
Founder & Design Director, Breathe Architecture
Completed in 2014 by Breathe Architecture in Melbourne, Australia, The Commons is a 24-unit multi-residential building with a focus on sustainability and community. Following the German Baugruppen movement and in the face of prolific speculative development in the city, the solution was to change the financial model - using architects as the owners and investors, thereby keeping the building quality high. However, due to the poor economic environment of 2007, the project was ultimately taken on by ethical developer Small Giants. The Commons has served as a prototype for many of the ideas inherent to the Nightingale Housing’s subsequent model, from material reductionism to the social impacts of shared facilities. The Commons’ unique approach has gained widespread attention, sweeping national awards and inspiring numerous alternative housing delivery models in Melbourne.
Presented as part of The Essential Housing Campaign, a community-building campaign, led by The Housing Innovation Collaborative, to build more housing for our essential workers in the communities they serve, in Los Angeles and beyond.
0:00 Hook
0:52 Introduction / Company Background
1:15 Project Location / Size
1:55 Bike parking
3:20 Mission of project
4:01 Investors
4:23 Rezoning site
4:57 Nightingale Housing Projects
5:40 Green design
6:17 How does the ownership work?
6:39 Key to affordability
7:42 Project timeline
7:50 Exterior tour
8:40 Mixed use design
8:55 Key savings
9:18 Lobby
9:35 Car parking issue
10:02 Inside the unit
11:29 Construction materials
12:36 Roof gardens
12:56 Mantra: "Build less, give more"
13:30 Most innovative aspect

[@jashmatash]

With exposed concrete soffits, how was footfall noise controlled?