HOW THE PANDEMIC IS FORCING CHANGE
A fellow architect and educator made a remark recently that architectural education has broadly been the same for 200 years. What a feat it has been, then, to adapt and turn the whole thing on its head in the space of two weeks after COVID-19 lockdown was announced in March.
The wider architecture industry would be wise to sit up and take note that this is prime time to consider making long-overdue changes.
In terms of how the repercussions of coronavirus will impact the profession, an increase in working from home across all industries will likely mean we don’t require all of the real estate we’ve been building – lessening the need for big new road projects in turn. For me, this is a good thing. The way many people talk about construction is that more is always better and that rising housing prices are somehow a good thing. This is reason for concern, as it means a lot of people find thepselyes in housinj distress they can¶t ăord Portjajes or rent and Ze haye risinj numbers of people living on the streets. This not a measure of success.
It is high time that the whole speculative approach to development is critically reexamined. The ‘bigger is better’, ‘denser is better¶ approach is deeply Àazed 7he push that is coming our way now for state government to look at provision of lots more social housing is a very positive thing. It is something we’ve neglected for decades. It’s time to stop stalling and just do it.
The development and construction industry is currently driven by speculation and the dollar.
We should start looking at this city – Melbourne – and consider whether we actually want these ultra high-rise buildings which will be around for decades to come. Anyone who believes more density is always good and that 25sqm apartments, 40 stories in the air are ideal living conditions should consider how they would feel if they were stuck in one of them. We’ve gone too far dozn this route and Ze need to rethinn our approach to development.
We need to reset the system, and we’re being handed the opportunity and time now to look at how we can do better. The European model of development, with medium-rise buildings and more generosity to the size of apartments, would be a step in the right direction for me.
Being a hands-on, practical institute, many people thought it was a given that Melbourne Polytechnic would just shut down temporarily when the COVID-19 lockdown took hold. As Head of Program for Bachelor of Built Environment, I thought “no, we have to do this, we have a duty to honour our commitment to our students”. So, we responded to the need to be Àe[ible and e[plored nez possibilities in order to make the transition to remote learning.
Though we’ve managed surprisingly well, this unprecedented change was accompanied by downsides. All the incidental and casual contact