APARTMENT DESIGN: THE NEXT GENERATION

With the focus on sustainability and the increasing density of our cities, it is timely to be thinking about the next generation of designs.  The reality is that a substantial change in required in design approach, however strong adherence to existing methods of construction and servicing and slowing the rate of progress significantly.  More detail on the place of building in a sustainable economy is included under ESD in our research papers.

Here are some of the features we can expect to see in apartment design in the near future.

PLANNING AND LAYOUT

The planning of apartments is responding to affordability as an important issue in apartment design. Construction costs have escalated to such an extent that architects are now looking to innovative strategies to create liveable, flexible apartments in ever smaller areas. We are likely to see more use of sliding and retracting doors and walls to allow spaces to be used in open plan form for entertaining, audio visual viewing or simply to enhance the sense of space.

Closing panels will screen off utility areas, studies, or provide privacy in an area. Another trend emerging overseas is the microapartment, small highly flexible apartment spaces with beds that fold into walls and tiny highly efficient kitchen areas based on European models that integrate sink, fridge, oven and even dishwasher into one module. Most significant, these apartments are very highly  serviced, with integrated audiovisual systems, internet connections via plasma, LCD or LED screen displays, automated lighting and window coverings and convenience  features more usually associated with cars such as remote central locking. Some designers are looking to take flexibility a step further, with plans in the pipeline for cabinetwork, wall units and even kitchens than can be easily unclipped and rearranged, to suit changed needs (see sidebar). Such systems also envisage a more flexible approach to how power and data points are provided in an interior, with these items mounted in the furnishing rather than rigidly positioned in fixed walls. Flexible configurations will also extend the life of apartments and allow adaptation for a range of users. One model of a 54 apartment developed by Demaine Partnership can be adapted to function as either a 2 dormitory student dwelling, a conventional one bedroom apartment, a one bedroom apartment with supplementary study area, or a multi-mode apartment where the bedroom area can be opened up to the living area and, by folding away a wall bed, used as a single larger space.

APARTMENT TYPES: FUNCTIONAL BLENDS

With more work being undertaken from home, the idea of the home office is now reaching maturity. Planning which allows the office zone to be quarantined from the more private living areas, and providing direct access from public circulation areas, will be more common. As the objectives of the State Governments strategic vision Melbourne 2030 are implemented, with more apartment development in activity centres, there may be more blending of commercial, street level activities with upper level residential and home office activities.

STRUCTURE: WALL AND FLOORS

The structure of Melbourne apartment buildings has not changed fundamentally in the last 45 years, but we can expect to see some important changes in construction technology in the near future. These changes are driven by three issues, sustainability, durability and acoustics.

SUSTAINABILITY

The majority of Melbourne's apartment buildings are built of concrete. Strong, durable, and very familiar to Melbourne's builders, concrete has been used in combinations of precast (concrete cast in a factory in shaped slabs and brought to site and erected) and 'insitu' (concrete poured wet on site into moulds, or forms, built on site). From an environmental point of view, however, the main advantage of concrete is its thermal mass. Thermal mass is what makes a building resist and moderate changes in temperature. Just as a concrete slab in a house can be used to absorb, then re-radiate heat to create a comfortable internal environment, so to can the concrete in apartment buildings. But only if the concrete is insulated. And this is where the leaders of the next generation of apartments will differ from the last. Where current buildings have their concrete directly exposed to the exterior, the new generation will have a layer of insulation protecting the concrete from the sun and cold, and allowing it to work creating a comfortable internal environment. One of the leaders in this field is Thermomass Building Systems who create total, pre-insulated concrete panels. However other companies are developing insulation systems that can be applied over concrete panels after installation.

DURABILITY

One of the common complaints in relation to apartment buildings are problems with condensation in interiors. External insulation largely overcomes this problem, but architects are looking to improvements in panel technology, drainage and other forms of insulation to overcome the differences in temperature and humidity that cause dampness and mould.