Our entry 'The Paired Twin House' wins the Density and Diversity Done Well Competition!

Tess and I won the Density and Diversity Done Well Competition run by the Queensland Government, one of seven winning schemes! We're stoked to be part of the conversation about how we can make our city and state more liveable.

The Paired Twin House

Our proposal is shown located in a typical Brisbane suburb, where we aimed to celebrate the SEQ context and climate by retaining the desirable human scale and leafy green qualities of suburbia. A number of key strategic planning legislation manoeuvres allow affordable development to be delivered incrementally at the scale of a single site or with multiple owners over time. 

Our four key manoeuvres are coupled with critical infrastructure support and a more efficient use of public space to facilitate a denser and more diverse Brisbane:

• Green, diverse streets for people (think lots of trees, safe bike lanes, additional public transport, pocket parks and smart waste water management)
• Sensitive infill with a zero-lot setback (let's activate streets! and allow for a more diverse range of housing)
• Off-street car parking re-prioritised (frontages taken up by double car garages create dead-zones on our streets which are not very safe)
• Retaining backyards (we love green space and need to retain it to protect native habitat corridors, views, light, air and privacy)

You can check out our competition entry on the QLD Government's Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning site by scrolling down to our entry.

Belonging

At Gandhi Ashram ice cream is for sale when a particular bell rings, and when “subjiiiiiiiiii!” is bellowed in the distance, it means it is either 8.30am or 5.30pm and fresh vegetables are available for sale. These sounds were foreign when I first arrived, but have worked their way into my daily routine here. Place identity involves all the senses, but does knowing how to behave mean that you belong?