Nightingale Night Studio

Jeremy McLeod, Kean Khoo and Kate Johnson

Studio Description

Our urban environment is littered with housing produced through a development model driven by financial yield, restricted by convoluted planning schemes and ulterior motives. In the Australian context, the capitalistic motivations behind housing undervalue the people, the environment and local communities affected/impacted by the developments. With housing being one of Australia's primary indicators of wealth, interrogation of the status quo has never been more timely or necessary.

The Nightingale Model aims to provide housing for Melbourne’s rapidly growing population through carbon-neutral, well-connected, community-driven apartments – all delivered without the involvement of property developers, marketers, or real estate agents – making them more socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable.

As we reach a point of no return, responsibility mounts for the industry to go beyond greenwashing and sustainability as a marketing tool. This studio foregrounds the architect's role in ideating how architecture can act as a catalyst for change and how design can be used for good.

Nightingale Housing exists to revolutionise the way we live together. This studio offers an indepth understanding of the Nightingale Housing process, delivering triple bottom line housing at cost. Students will explore the boundaries of multi-residential architectural design to create meaningful contributions to the city and exceptional living environments.

Students will be encouraged to interrogate the underlying tensions of housing delivery and develop strategies to reconcile the environmental, social and economic realities of housing. Students will be taught how to run financial feasibility studies on project sites and gain unique insights into the interaction between architectural design and other disciplines involved in the procurement process, such as development managers, financiers, and community housing providers.

Studio Outcomes

The studio encourages students to balance pragmatic conditions with aspirational visions for housing typologies. Equipped with the tools and principles of the Nightingale Model, students will rigorously test their imagined vision for housing in a real-world context, exploring the critical tensions of housing procurement and delivery to develop a clear and rigorous thesis articulated with clarity and conviction.

Building on the success of the Nightingale Housing model, students will present a contextual challenge to the status quo of conventional housing models and graduate from Nightingale Night School prepared to enter the industry as informed innovators and advocates.

Studio Leader

Jeremy McLeod is the managing director of Nightingale Housing and founding director of multiaward winning architecture studio, Breathe Architecture. Jeremy is also the recent recipient of the 2025 AIA’s Urban Design Champion award. Breathe is a team of dedicated architects that have built a reputation for delivering high quality design and sustainable architecture at various scales. Breathe Architecture has recently been focused on sustainable urbanisation and how to deliver more affordable urban housing to Melbournians. Breathe were project architects of The Commons, Nightingale 1, Nightingale Station, Nightingale Laneway, Skye House and Wurru wurru biik housing projects in Brunswick.

This studio will be assisted by Nightingale Night School graduates Kean Khoo and Kate Johnson from Breathe Architecture.

Readings & References

1. Triumph of the City, Edward Glaeser, 201
2. 2 Soft City, David Sim, 2019
3. No Place Like Home, Peter Mares, 2009
4. The Human Scale, 2016 (Movie)
5. Urbanised, 2011 (Movie)
6. Podcast - Housing the Australian Nation with Peter Mares https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/earshot/peter-mares/12207050
7. How to Kill a City, Peter Mowskowitz 2018
8. How Do We Solve The Housing Crisis? New Community-Led Models For Planning And Architecture, Deborah Talbot, Forbes, May 17th 2018 https://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahtalbot/2018/05/17/how-do-we-solve-the-housin gcrisis-new-community-led-models-for-planning-and-architecture/ Collaborative Housing, University of Technology Sydney https://www.collaborativehousing.org.au
9. The Great Divide: Australia's Housing Mess and How to Fix It; Quarterly Essay 92, Alan Kohler

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Schedule:
The Studio will be held at Breathes office Level 3/7 Alfred Place, Melbourne VIC 3000
Monday 4:30pm-7:30pm
Wednesday 4:30pm-7:30pm 

Off-site Activities:
Nightingale Village, Nightingale 1, Cairo Flats, Heller Street and Beverly Hills Apartments.

Contact Handbook