Micro-apartments: rethinking sustainable housing | Australian Dealer Information

A world sustainable dwelling professional has known as for a accountable method to growing micro-apartments to fulfill the various wants of a rising inhabitants.

Within the face of a worldwide housing disaster the place an growing inhabitants battles in opposition to a scarcity of viable dwelling area, micro-apartments are more and more touted as a possible resolution.

However as Colin Chee (pictured above), founding father of sustainable dwelling advocacy firm By no means Too Small, argues, the dialog round these tiny dwellings wants a significant shift.

Chee instructed shifting past the time period housing affordability and embracing housing accessibility. This reframes the difficulty to embody not simply monetary limitations, but in addition the wants of various populations, together with:

• Folks with disabilities and older people
• Low-income people and households
• These requiring bigger dwelling areas

“After all, a micro-apartment shouldn’t be the only real reply to sort out the broader problems with housing accessibility, however it may be a part of the larger image,” mentioned Chee. “We want several types of housing options for folks from varied backgrounds and totally different family sorts.”

Micro-living: The enduring attract of cities

With Australia being among the many least densely populated nations on the planet, the dialog round high-density dwelling could seem counterintuitive at first look.

Given Australia’s inhabitants is predicted to develop to 45.9 million by 2071, the necessity for metropolis dwelling will probably turn out to be extra essential as time goes on.

“Folks wish to stay in cities,” mentioned Chee. “People have all the time desired to stay in shut proximity to one another because the starting of our existence.”

Chee mentioned good city planning subsequently performed a vital function in making micro-living profitable.

“We can’t construct micro-apartments the place there’s no entry to facilities, public area, or public transport; it is merely inhumane.”

Why Australia’s cities want various housing

Whereas the necessity for high-density designed cities will probably enhance over time, does embracing dwelling in an condominium underneath 32 sq. meters routinely imply sacrificing high quality for measurement? The reply, like most issues in life, is not black and white.

Whereas the concept of dwelling in a shoebox may increase eyebrows, Chee emphasised that design is the true differentiator.

“A well-designed micro-apartment will be comfy and habitable for single or duo residents. The issue is that we’re giving an excessive amount of energy to builders in Australia to do as they please,” Chee mentioned.

“Relatively than specializing in creating housing, we’re producing funding merchandise, churning out many uninhabitable micro-apartments that give the general public a foul impression that small dwelling means poor high quality of life.”

This may be seen within the lack of family-friendly housing in metropolis centres, with solely 14% of residences having three bedrooms or extra in keeping with a 2021 examine.

In lots of cities throughout Australia, when you’ve got a household and want a bigger area, you’re compelled to maneuver to the suburbs.

“This leads to our cities turning into demographic havens for younger singles or {couples}, whereas suburbs are full of households,” mentioned Chee.

“There’s no range by way of family sizes. If policymakers put restrictions in place and use huge knowledge to foretell the route of our inhabitants, we will restrict the variety of micro-apartments, small residences, and medium-sized residences inside our cities.”

Chee mentioned this knowledge will be communicated to builders, permitting them to cater to market demand.

“It is basically stocktaking – understanding our inhabitants after which offering several types of housing to fulfill their wants,” he mentioned.

“In any other case, we danger having too many small residences within the metropolis, which can turn out to be transient housing, making our cities weak and fewer resilient to challenges, such because the instances we confronted throughout the COVID pandemic.”

Customisable micro-apartment dwelling

Small dwelling ought to be adaptive and customisable, in keeping with Chee, catering to particular person existence and desires.  

“We frequently suppose the largest problem for folks dwelling in small areas is storage. When builders construct small residences, they typically fill them with ample storage, pondering they’re doing an excellent job,” Chee mentioned.  

“Nonetheless, there is not any consideration for the residents’ way of life, tradition, and well-being. All of us stay totally different lives; all of us have totally different wants in our multicultural nation.”

For instance, if you happen to give an empty 32sqm floorplan to a journalist, a nurse, and somebody in a wheelchair, they might probably provide you with very totally different floorplans due to their totally different way of life wants.

A journalist may want a whole lot of storage for books, a pleasant desk going through the window to put in writing, and a snug lounge chair to learn.

A nurse may prioritise a snug place to calm down after work, with a big couch and TV;  whereas low storage entry and an L-shaped open kitchen  with out overhead storage and a kitchen island can be best for wheelchair entry.

Chee mentioned it’s completely doable in a 32sqm area, and the trick was “to not overdesign the condominium”.

Nonetheless, present laws typically require builders to finish initiatives with a set restrict of storage or joinery for a big fridge and washer.

“In lots of instances, it is an afterthought in design,” Chee mentioned. “Builders use the identical design and replicate it all through the event, leading to inflexibility and a poor high quality of dwelling in small areas.”

Ditching cookie-cutter residences for shells

With a view to cater to the various wants of the inhabitants inside residences, builders and designers would want a special method.

Chee mentioned there have been many examples from different nations that present that while you purchase an condominium, you are shopping for a shell.

“Builders present a primary kitchen, primary toilet, energy factors, and water entry if you need a washer,” Chee mentioned. “This will make the price of constructing an condominium extra reasonably priced and customisable to fit your personal want.”

“With this method, you progress in and take your time to furnish it regularly, making the area suit you moderately than you having to suit into the small area.”

Technological developments and extra merchandise designed for small area dwelling are making micro-apartments appear extra interesting for many individuals, not solely younger people but in addition singles and the ageing inhabitants.

Chee urged Australian builders and planners to have a look at examples like Singapore and Europe for the way they do small footprint dwelling and concrete design.

“All of us want to begin speaking about it collectively as a result of housing is a worldwide difficulty and it’ll higher inform the Australian public about small footprint dwelling,” Chee mentioned.

“Affordability, sure, accessibility much more so. Solely then do we all know we’re housing our folks sustainably, guaranteeing well-being for our folks and enjoying our function as accountable custodians for our nature.”