Creating Home in Urban Australia
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CREATING HOME IN URBAN AUSTRALIA THE ROLE OF SITE, SPACE AND FORM By Jillian W alliss ( B. L. Arch. ) Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design University of Tasmania ( May 1996 ) This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for a degree or diploma by the University of Tasmania or any other institution, except by way of background information and duly acknowledged in the thesis, and to the best of the Candidate's knowledge and belief no material previously published or written by another person except where due acknowledgment is made in the text of the thesis. This thesis may be made available for loan. Copying of any part of this thesis is prohibited for two years from the date this statement was signed; after that time limited copying is permitted in accordance with the Copyright Act of 1968. ABSTRACT Environmental concerns, together with increasing development costs have created the need for urban housing which can provide an alternative to the popular, but low density detached house. Coaxing Australians into denser housing, however, is proving a difficult task, particularly as many regard the detached house as the ideal home. The concept of home is extremely complex, incorporating many physical, social and psychological factors. However, attempting to understand and incorporate these attributes into the development of denser housing will surely produce a greater acceptance of urban housing in Australian cities. This approach must be preferable to simply insisting that Australians modify their lifestyles and values in order to accept urban housing. This thesis will explore one important component of housing design - spatial organisation, in order to establish its role and importance in creating home in Australia. Spatial organisation describes the method of arranging dwellings, external spaces and associated facilities on a site. It forms a particularly important consideration in the design of urban housing where it is often necessary to design a number of individual dwellings and functions on a common block of land. This research is therefore not concerned with the internal spatial arrangement of the dwelling, instead focusing on the relationship, both physically and socially, between the individual dwelling and the broader community and urban fabric. The major component of this research traces the historical development of spatial organisation in Australian housing. This occurred in two distinct phases involving: a) the modification of English cultural models; and b) the post World War II application of Modernist housing principles. These two phases were characterised by contrasting spatial organisations which produced very different concepts of home. The traditional model, for example, favoured individual and private homes whereas the Modernist models emphasised mass housing developments with communal facilities. Evaluation of these models reveal that many Australians have a clear preference for the domestic qualities produced by the traditional spatial organisation while contemporary housing design still incorporates many aspects of Modernist spatial organisation. This thesis examines this paradox from a number of perspectives and concludes with a new direction for spatial organisation in urban housing, based on an Australian perception of horne. In addition, it demonstrates the value of multi-disciplinary research in the development of contemporary design theory, which balances the needs of the broader population against the inclinations of the design profession. 1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks are due to the Department of Urban Design, University of Tasmania, particularly to my supervisor Barrie Shelton and also to Damien Mugavin and Prue Slatyer. I would like to thank the Technical Policy Unit of the N.S.W. Department of Housing. Particular gratitude is owed to John Gregory and Mora Main for their continual support, insight and knowledge, much of which has inspired and guided this research. Finally, I would like to give a special thanks to Angela Lober, Justin McCormick, Tun Leach, Alan Bright, Walter Carniato, Karen Kennedy and Jude Abel who together have offered much humour and a little direction during some tedious moments of this research. 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS................................................................. ii LIST OF FIGURES . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Vl LIST OF TABLES........................................................................... Vlll INTRODUCTION........................................................................... 1 CHAPTER I THE DEVELOPMENT OF AUSTRALIAN HOUSING.. 6 EARLY DEVELOPMENT . 7 THE SUBURBS . 11 FLAT ANDAPARTMENTBUILDINGS............................... 14 Millers Point . 15 The Strickland Apartments . 16 QUALITIES OF AUSTRALIAN HOUSING........................... 18 CHAPTER IT MODERNISM AND HOUSING.................................. 23 EARLY UTOPIAN IDEAS......................................................... 24 Robert Owen........... 26 Tony Garnier . 27 INFLUENTIAL MODERNIST CONCEPTS . 29 NEO-RADBURN .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 31 The Original Radburn. 31 The Emergence of a Neo-Radburn.............................. 33 HIGH RISE IN PARKLAND............................................. 38 The Slab Block.................................................... 38 The Point Block................................................... 41 The Work of Le Corbusier...... 43 LOW RISE URBAN........................................................ 44 Pedestrian Streets . 44 Patio and Courtyard Housing.................................... 45 CHAPTER ill MODERNISM AND AUSTRALIAN HOUSING........... 51 POST WAR RECONSTRUCTION .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 52 Commonwealth Housing Commission......................... 53 Walter Bunning.................................................... 58 THE EMERGENCE OF MODERNISM.......................................... 61 111 Page NEG-RADBURN........................................................... 61 Cartwright.. 62 The Village . 66 HIGH RISE IN PARKLAND............................................. 68 The North Melbourne Estate . 69 LOW RISE URBAN........................................................ 71 Woolloomooloo . 71 Villa wood . 78 THE PRIVATE SECTOR.................................................. 81 Swinger Hill . 82 Winter Park . 82 Blue Point Towers................................................. 83 CHAPTER IV EVALUATION OF MODERNIST SPATIAL CONCEPTS 89 POST-OCCUPANCYEVALUATIONS................................. 90 Neo-Radbum . .. .. .. .. .. .. 91 High Rise in Parkland . 92 Low Rise Urban..................................................... 95 The Private Sector........... 97 STUDIES OF TRADITIONAL DOMESTIC SPACE.................. 99 The Front Yard . 99 The Back Yard..................................................... 100 SOCIAL RESEARCH AND THE MEANING OF HOME............ 101 The Immigrant . 101 The Indigenous View . 102 The Overview... 103 BEHAVIOURAL CONVENTIONS...................................... 104 Terntonality............. 104 Privacy............................................................... 105 Boundaries and Transitional Spaces............................. 106 FAILINGS OF MODERNIST SPATIAL THEORY................... 107 The Role of Spatial Organisation . 109 CHAPTER V SPATIAL DESIGN PRINCIPLES FOR AUSTRALIAN. 112 HOUSING Principle 1 . 114 Principle 2............ 119 Principle 3........................................................... 125 Principle 4. 128 Principle 5........................................................... 136 lV Page CONCLUSION .............................................................................. 140 APPENDIXES ............................................................................... 144 APPENDIX A: The Spatial Rehabilitation ofVillawood ............... 144 APPENDIX B: StClair, Model Urban Housing Program ............. 146 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................... 148 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. 1888 map of the inner Sydney suburb of Glebe.................................. 10 2. The model suburb ofHaberfield ...... ... .. .. .. .... ...... ... ........ ... .. .. .. .. 12 3. The Strickland Apartments........................................................... 17 4. Consistent spatial organisation of Australian housing..... 19 5. Traditional spatial organisation of Australian housing............................ 21 6. Evolution of the New York tenement............................................... 25 7. Owen's plan for Villages of Unity and Co-operation........................... 26 8. Plan of the residential quarter for Une Cite Industrielle.......................... 28 9. Perspective of the residential quarter, Une Cite Industrielle..................... 28 10. Plan of the residential districts for Radburn, New Jersey, 1929................ 34 11. Spatial organisation of a typical Radburn cul-de-sac............................. 35 12. Jorn Utzon's Kingo houses, 1958, Neo-Radburn.... .. .. .... .... .. .. .. .. .. .. 37 13. Studies by Walter Gropius of building height, density and sunlight........... 39 14. Principles for siting residential blocks, 1953...................................... 40 15. The Williamsburg Houses, 1937, High Rise in Parkland....................... 42 16. Danviksklippan, Stockholm, 1940s, High Rise in Parkland.................... 42 17 The 'Town House' project, London, 1955-6, Low Rise Urban................ 46 18. Tuggeranong, ACT,