This collection of 74 townhouses aims to embody the values, culture and character of the local community. The project vision was co-created through a Creating Vibrant Communities workshop involving the developer, landscape architects, branding agency, sales agent and ClarkeHopkinsClarke’s architectural and interior design teams.
The project is targeting an average 8 star NatHERS rating through a carbon neutral build, $0 energy bill targets, high performance materials and water sensitive urban design. Community will also be fostered through shared spaces, prioritisation of people over cars, landscaping that encourages interaction, and the connection of a local bike path through to site to the Merri Creek Trail.
Early discussions with the developer of this proposed townhouse development highlighted a desire to create an ESD-focused community, appealing to a growing cohort of young families and downsizers. In order to develop a design that would appropriately capture these aspirations, our team initiated a rigorous visioning process based upon our own ‘Creating Vibrant Communities’ methodology.
Conceived by ClarkeHopkinsClarke Partner, Dean Landy, following a 2 year research project is ‘Creating Vibrant Communities’ is an inclusive, holistic and interactive methodology that has become the cornerstone of our design process. Through collaborative stakeholder workshops we unpack the unique ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ elements of each project that will help create a vibrant place. Soft elements are the intangible aspects of every project that can be shaped and influenced by the built environment. Hard elements comprise the physical buildings and spaces that can be created through design.
For this project, we ran a Creating Vibrant Communities workshop with the Client, Real Estate representative, Landscape designers, ESD consultants and our internal design team. The workshop assisted in exploring aspirations and setting key goals in relation to the soft elements of sustainability, place, active & healthy, connected, time and people The detailed findings of this workshop were synthesised into a series of design pillars that shaped the evolution of the design as well as the marketing approach, helping to seed the development of a vibrant, purposeful and impactful community.
