Stuart Jinhong Yeap

Despite their density, cities often prove to be places in which people are unable to find a sense of belonging. Australian renters experience loneliness more so than people with other tenure types due to the standard of their living environments. Under the profit driven development model predominantly seen in Australia, apartments are typically designed to produce maximum investment returns, with little thought given to the resident community at large and their need for interaction.

In an effort to address urban loneliness in Collingwood, this project explores how we can create a living environment for renters that provides them with a sense of community. The proposed Collingwood Town Hall Precinct provides multiple opportunities for both residents and non-residents to interact and form social ties at different scales - from the scale of the masterplanned precinct to that of an intimate group within a further developed housing community.

Key masterplan moves include connecting the precinct to the nearby park, using landscape and open space to accommodate a variety of social activities and activating the site with a mix of community focused uses. The developed living typology provides residents with opportunities for interaction through vertically distributed flexible communal rooms and wintergarden corridors.