Third City
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"The subsequent housing stock is, even today, endearingly temporary, while the contained landscape is appropriately massive....... Does this close, nurtured forest represent our highest urban ideal?....I believe so....These eucalypts are both the genesis of the Third City and a passionate link to the First. P Meyers. The Third City. AA 2000
This proposal builds on the Peter Myers thesis of the "Third City", whereby the suburb is transformed initially at the scale of the block and then at the lot. The monoculture of the free standing house is replaced with a richer sustainable urbanism that facilitates a range of housing types and public space.
Existing houses are removed and bricks retained. The block is re-laid out with new one way streets and lanes that define the preserved close-nurtured forest and give street address to the new smaller lots. Dual rows of smaller and larger torrens title lots reflect the old and new street hierarchy. Larger end lots allow for modestly scaled apartments to bookend the block with a public/community building at one end.
The retained bricks are rebuilt to form the courtyard walls of the primary housing type. The courtyard model is inherently flexible, facilitating a rich range of 1, 2 + 3 level permutation in tower or slab form. A series of brick built elements; walls, hearth, entry and stair tower define the type. Services are housed.
Around the entry and stair core, living rooms and bedrooms can be extended and extruded to suit individual programs. Over time a rich aggregation of clipped on, attached, flat pack type rooms come and go reflecting the changing demographic, household budgets and fashion. The northfacing courtyard remains.
The street is re-enlivened with balconies, roof decks and terraces, which over look and engage with it.
