Whynot Street
Home >> Design In It » Think Brick Awards » Awards Entries 2011 » About Face Students » Whynot Street
Design Intentions:
This design looks to free detached homes from the setback limitations by eliminating the traditional concept of plot boundaries. Many suburbs surrounding Brisbane's CBD have been under strain to redevelop in light of the growing population and the spreading CBD. West End, a suburb just across the Brisbane River from the CBD has become a point of conflict between community interests and council interests. This competition entry hopes to provide possible insight into the densification issues in Brisbane but at the same time produce a design sensitive to the interest of the existing West End community.
Low density residential in West End is typified by detached homes with small building footprints on relatively large plots of land. Although large backyards are common with detached homes in West End, it is the margins between homes usually reserved for easements and pathways that has become the focus of this competition entry. Council Restrictions have meant that these spaces are usually left under-utilised isolating the homes from the rest of West End. Through the elimination of existing property boundaries and the use of brick's most valued qualities including fire retardation as well as acoustical and thermal performance it is possible to build between these detached homes creating a two bedroom home that does not infringe on the quality of life within the adjacent homes.
