BVN

THINK BRICK DESIGN STATEMENT

DOUBLE UP

BVN

Double Up looks at Sydney's interwar or "middle ring" suburbs. These areas are made up of quarter acre blocks with wide streets and deep setbacks to single level bungalows. Although many are within 10km of the city centre, they form some of the least dense development in the greater Sydney region.

Our example suburb is Concord. A typical Concord street is over 35 metres wide, a typical block around 14 metres wide by 65 metres deep. Vehicle networks are already highly controlled, channeling cars along a few key arteries. Walking the footpaths of Concord is thus a very quiet affair, with the charm residing in the peaceful consistency of its broad streets, mature street trees and brick California Bungalows. In Double Up we propose to respect and augment this street quality whilst doubling the density and diversity of the suburb.

The demographic of Concord is aging. We presuppose a condition 10 years from now, when a majority of owners will be retired. Double Up seeks to provide this population with a means to remain in the area, by creating mechanisms for the redistribution of their assets. The result is the creation of new and diverse housing typologies interwoven with the old and creating the potential for inhabitation in a variety of ways.

Our first move has been to insert a new street network between the existing blocks. The network will enable property owners to sell or develop the land at the rear of their gardens. Development along the new lanes is controlled via a series of simple rules, which also act to promote the creation of public pathways and squares, linking the lanes to the streets.

The existing streets are redesigned as gardens. Functions once located in the backyards find a public adaptation in the garden street. Private pools become small public pools, tool sheds become shared workshops, granny flats are redistributed as assisted care housing, the garden trampoline is a playground and the rumpus room a daycare centre. Small residential towers are also proposed at intersections. Car traffic along the existing streets is maintained for access, but now follows a meandering pathway through the garden.

In keeping with the existing houses a single brick type is nominated as the essential material. Used for both paving and cladding, variation is achieved through texture in the stack and detail. Walking along a pathway from lane to street a gradient shift emerges. Full bricks in standard bond make way for tumbled recycled brick rubbles to finer brick pebble plant bedding and clay dusts in the garden.

According to the cargo manifest of the Scarborough, five thousand bricks and twelve brick moulds arrived in Australia with the First Fleet. Though records do not remain, one theory is that the first bricks were used to construct the first brick kiln. At the intersection of a garden pathway with the garden street we propose to construct a small rough brick chimney tower (a kiln). The structure serves to identify the location of the pathway and provide the focus of a gathering place with seats and shady planting. The base of the tower is elevated with a suspended steel rack for bonfires. Alongside the kiln, but set amongst the planting, is a second tower. Slightly smaller than the first this structure has been created by taking the internal cast of a matching brick kiln. Its material is thus not brick but cement, and its form solid not hollow. Where in the kiln the joints between the bricks are recessed, here they form ridges. The second tower stands as a pale shadow, a companion and a counterpoint to the first.

Double Up can be adapted to take place across all large block suburbs in the city. By adopting a simple hierarchical and interwoven street arrangement, future suburban developments could provide greater density and diversity in scale and affordability, allowing for varied inhabitation types across a single field.