St Albans Housing by NMBW Architecture Studio in association with Monash Art, Design and Architecture (MADA)

Built on the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation

— St Albans Housing was reviewed by Rachel Hurst in Architecture Australia March/April

2022. See architectureau.com/articles/st-albans-housing.

Jury citation Within an economic context that is extremely difficult to negotiate, this collaboration between NMBW and MADA has delivered a flexible and dignified community housing model that focuses on the residents’ spatial agency and wellbeing.

Through intelligent planning and a robust materiality, the design anticipates many modes of living and changes in household circumstance, and is supported by a sophisticated communal strategy. The quality of the interstitial spaces and gardens is highly purposeful and carefully resolved, providing the foundation for a genuine shared life for the residents.

The innovative nature of the project is also a credit to the client, who is clearly seeking to extend the offering, diversity and quality of much-needed community housing. NMBW has consistently speculated within the realms of social housing and St Albans Housing is a further seminal contribution to this important typology.

Architect NMBW Architecture Studio in association with Monash Art, Design and Architecture (MADA); Project team Nigel Bertram, Marika Neustupny, Lucinda McLean, Shane Murray, Deborah Rowe, Holly Board, Laura Harper, Marie Le Touze, Simon Robinson, Jonathon Yeo, Benjamin Nicaud; Builder Chancett Builders; Landscape consultant

Glas Urban; Structural and civil engineer OPS Engineers; Services engineer, ESD consultant NJM Design; Building surveyor PLP Building Surveyors and Consultants; Photographer

Peter Bennetts