Rosebery
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THINK BRICK - DESIGN STATEMENT
The selected site is located in Rosebery, Southern Sydney, situated at the junction of low density typical suburban blocks and large span industrial footprints in a state of obsolescence.
Currently both the suburban and the industrial character of Rosebery are being replaced by 6-8 story apartment buildings, a type whose proliferation has barely allowed for a proper reflection on its shortcomings - its invasive bulk and scale, its awkward figure ground that disconnects it from the street; its russian roulette of orientations that ensures every second or third apartment has minimal sun and natural light; its inflexibility in use, with its stacked repetition of a singular domestic program; its ambiguous open space that creates a recreational 'no-mans-land', and its disconnection of the individual dwelling from the amenity of deep soil gardens.
As an alternative to the ubiquitous medium density apartment type, we propose a hybrid block configuration that maintains the low scale of the adjacent suburban block pattern combined with an intensive footprint of use derived from the matt carpet of the industrial block. Configurations are structured around the insertion of a domestic compactus of brick cores containing essential domestic and environmental infrastructure. This tight grain, intensive mixed-use, low scale medium density footprint is proposed as both a real strategy for re-occupation of the remaining industrial building stock and as a theoretical model for alternate patterns of housing inspired by the juxtaposition of forces currently present in Rosebery: the suburban dwelling, the infrastructure of physical production, and landscape.
