Melbourne can solve the problem of apartment oversupply by building appropriately sized apartments for families, says Lochlan Sinclair, architect and design manager at Neometro.
As part of a series called 'High Density Happiness', MPavillion has put the issue of apartments for families on the agenda.
The talk, titled 'In defence of the three-bedroom apartment', was intended to address the need for higher density living in Australian cities to avoid urban sprawl and create better community connectedness.
The talk highlighted the fact that most developments contain almost exclusively 75sqm two-bedroom apartments, and called for greater diversity.
Sue Say of Urbis, urban designer Amanda Roberts, architect and co-director of Assemble, Quino Holland, and Jeff Provan, Neometro’s founder and design director spoke at the event.
In an interview with the ABC Radio Melbourne afterwards, Lochlan Sinclair, architect and design manager at Neometro, said, "As a city, we need to start considering better housing for families in apartments."
Sinclair believes higher density living is necessary to prevent urban sprawl and put further strain on infrastructure.
"We're going through an unprecedented housing boom at the moment and we need to really start looking at apartment living as a bona fide option to ensure that we keep Melbourne's footprint at a reasonable size and a sustainable size," he said.
He said that even though there is much discussion about the oversupply of apartments in Melbourne, the problem is really in the design of many new developments.
"I think it's probably a fair comment to say that we're building too many of the wrong type of apartments," he said.
Apartments should be built for the long term, he told the ABC.
"We need to be building good apartments and appropriately sized apartments so they're able to be lived in as a family home for a long duration," he said.
Larger apartments for families could also address affordability problems, and he cited the examples of foreign cities, such as Barcelona and Paris, that accommodate families into the design of the cities. Sinclair also said amenities for families were essential in developments, such as rooftop gardens, workshops, and communal bike areas.
See also:
Australian cities need more large apartments for families