Drea Lai Jie Ning

The Crossway @ Preston addresses housing as a basic right, advocating for equitable access and affordability by creating an alternative housing framework for aspiring homeowners. Driven to create long-term community and social equity, this project extends beyond Preston as a replicable housing model that can be applied across Melbourne’s middle ring suburbs. It promotes residents to remain, grow and age within their community, encouraging a long-term commitment and sense of belonging to the place.

The project bridges two distinct housing typologies, St Georges main road and suburban prescient towards the North. The North-South dual entry creates a clear sense of movement through the site. The communal frontages open towards St Georges Street along the northern facade, and private spaces linking to the suburban prescient along the southern facade.

This equitable housing model offers a variety of adaptable living options uniting the benefits of different housing typologies. From more cost-effective units offering greater shared facility provisions to flexible units which provides greater adaptability in living and access to the outdoors. Residents are empowered to freely live and grow in place through adaptable spatial features allowing scalability across life stages, flexible thresholds, and intermediate indoors-outdoors spaces in each unit.