Alan Damen

Good Enough

Finding itself perched between undeniably Australian cream brick and eucalyptus trees, this social housing complex at its core is a simple contradiction to the Australian standard of providing public housing that is less than adequate.

Addressing this desperate need, I look back to the bones of design that was often “good enough” with simple construction and liveable unit size; and interrogate material additions and enhanced ecological intention as a way to future-proof this typology. This proposal sits amongst a dry sclerophyll forest and is planned as two large L shaped blocks, which frame a central forested courtyard with a simple pavilion at its heart. Interior spaces are planned around a basic structural grid with free typologies each including a public and private balcony, affording a sense of ownership to apartment living.

Good Enough is a hopeful proposal for a future where public housing is respected as an equal to the quarter acre block.