Studio 1
IBA_MELBOURNE
NEW APARTMENT HOUSING
Tom Alves
Studio Description
Melbourne is experiencing historically significant urban change
More apartments are being built in Melbourne than at any time in the past, yet few intensified precincts
deliver the amenity and quality of place consistent with Melbourne’s reputation as a liveable city.
Despite this, intensification is essential to provide the >1.5 million new homes needed by 2051 and to
transition the metropolitan region to sustainability.
Status quo development does not deliver diverse or affordable housing
Recent higher density housing provision is part of a wider process transforming Melbourne’s property
markets, another feature of which has been the on-going decline of housing affordability.
Current development practices do not deliver affordable and diverse housing but deliberative
development and design-led planning processes offer an alternative.
Studio Outcomes
Internationally and historically, IBAs (Internationaler Bauausstellungen – or International Building Expositions) have been instrumental in challenging entrenched norms in systems of urban development and used to test and demonstrate new ideas about housing design and urban renewal. As the possibility of a Melbourne IBA gains momentum with government and among practitioners, in this Studio we partner with the City of Moreland to develop a housing proposition on a real inner Melbourne development site as part of a process of wider engagement.
Students will prepare a concept and masterplan for a Melbourne IBA Housing Expo and then develop their skills through the design of an apartment building. Although focused on the design outcome, this studio will also include investigations of development economics, housing and planning policy, affordable housing provision, as well as the cultural and institutional contexts of housing design and development. At the end of the studio, work will be presented to stakeholders and the public using a variety of interfaces.
Studio Leader
Dr Tom Alves holds a PhD in Housing and Urban Studies and is a Research Fellow at MSD.
Formerly at the Office of the Victorian Government Architect, he led the development of Victoria’s apartment
design standards and helped establish the Victorian Design Review Panel, acting for a time as its Director.
Tom was Lead Author of the Housing Chapter during the development of Melbourne’s metropolitan strategic
plan and was part of the working group to establish Nightingale Housing.
Tom previously worked in architectural practices in Melbourne and Sydney.
Dr Alves’ academic research focuses on urban consolidation, medium density housing, apartment provision,
and processes of ‘deliberative development’ (a term he coined with Andrea Sharam)
ST1/01 Monday 6:15-9:15PM, MSD Room 238
ST2/01 Thursday 12-3PM, MSD Room 238