From the architect:
Over the past two years, Bayswater Women's Housing 2 has earned a swag of industry honours for its high-ESD apartment community combining sustainability and social support. This includes an Urban Developer Award for Industry Excellence and a recent shortlisting for the Property Council of Australia's 2022 Award for Best Affordable Housing Development.
Bayswater Women’s Housing 2 is designed by ClarkeHopkinsClarke Architects for Women’s Housing Limited in consultation with Urbanxchange as part of an award-winning series of developments for women at risk of homelessness and escaping family violence.
The four-storey, 24-apartment development effectively forms a pair with an award-winning 2012 apartment development next door. They share common basement car parking and frame a magnificent established Silverleaf Stringybark in between. Views through the canopy are just one highlight of Bayswater 2’s one- and two-bedroom apartments. They also feature 6.6-star NatHERS ratings, abundant natural light and ventilation, 2.7-metre ceilings, and generous living spaces, balconies and storage.
To maximise comfort and minimise maintenance costs the design provides Environmentally Sustainable Design features and a robust façade of long-lasting metal cladding, masonry and pre-cast concrete. It’s softened with multiple curved forms, durable timber-textured battens, and landscaping including the monumental gum.
Among its many ESD features are an embedded energy network, solar power and hot water, no gas, double glazing with thermal breaks, masses of insulation, 2.7-metre ceilings with fans, cool-coated roof, reflective film to exterior windows and thermal-rated internal blinds. Careful orientation also delivers spectacular upper-level views of the Dandenong Ranges.
Regular surveys of tenants highlighted the need for ample storage and a feeling of spaciousness throughout. Hence the design prioritised generous joinery, ceiling volumes and living areas that open onto large private balconies. “We could perhaps have got more apartments in here,” says Paul, “but it’s better for tenants to enjoy the added comfort of those larger balconies.” Sustainability features reduce residents’ living expenses further and include a century-old finish that Paul says will ensure common areas like corridors wear beautifully over time. “Marmoleum is a very old product but it’s 100 percent environmentally sustainable, made from kaolin, sawdust, linseed oil and natural pigments.”
ClarkeHopkinsClarke's award-winning design also integrates a small office, enabling Women’s Housing Limited’s Housing Manager and Family Violence Support Worker to deliver on-site assistance and programming. Residents are a mix of women aged over 55 who were previously at risk of homelessness due to lack of affordable housing and younger women, mostly with children, who have left family violence.
ClarkeHopkinsClarke Project Leader Amos Matteri says the Urban Developer Award is a testament to the strong collaborative relationship that underpins the development. “We have a great relationship with Women’s Housing and Urbanxchange, and they’ve been very successful projects,” he says.
Partner Toby Lauchlan, who heads ClarkeHopkinsClarke’s Multi-residential sector, says his team is currently working on a number of diverse social and affordable housing projects aiming to raise the bar on both architectural quality and social impact. “We’ve got some really interesting projects underway, from key worker housing to a contemporary take on rooming houses and a townhouse-style apartment development for Indigenous residents with a particularly strong landscape narrative. They’re all very different, but they share a need for high quality, robust, sustainable homes that tenants love, in great locations where residents can access everything they need and establish themselves in their local communities.”
