The Nook House - Hybrid Housing Solutions
As Sydney grows, the question of where and how to form our built environment becomes increasingly important. Current patterns of development tend to be narrowly focused on what the final urban outcome should be, without acknowledging the importance of the steps between. In considering the case of Green Square, to the south of the Sydney CBD, this hypothetical brief sought to challenge current macro level development patterns, by suggesting something more intimate, more subtle, and more pedestrian. By combining different building functions, and re-considering their relationships to one another, this project explored how current urban patterns could inform and mould future site specific solutions.
Jury Comment
The jury felt that the project was a very good example of dispersed infill architecture, where micro architectural moves provided overall macro possibilities for change. This approach is a legitimate antidote to the obsession with monumental responses especially in the age of climate change. Interventions following particular patterns are almost ephemeral in appearance, but are executed with a high level of detail and consideration to local conditions and existing urban grain. The cross programming is highly effective because it relies on the idea of movement and shifting urban intentions rather than fixed ideas of development. The jury was most convinced by the resolution of the project in model form, as some parts of the conceptual framework were difficult to follow, and the environmental strategies presented remain nascent.
