A few years ago, 2014 to be exact, a pioneering new development in Melbourne was the talk of the sustainable architecture landscape of Australia. The Commons Brunswick was one of the first buildings of its kind in this country to be purpose-built to encourage a balance in communal versus private residential space. In an era that is constantly dominated by digital means to communicate and socialize suddenly there was this proposition that we return to a more old school form of socializing. A return to basics that has proven to be an incredibly successful housing method evident in the demand for more throughout the world.
One of the latest projects just about to break ground is The Commons Brunswick’s younger sibling - The Commons Hobart.
The Commons Hobart pictured on its proposed central city site in Bathurst Street, Hobart.
Like her older brother, The Commons Hobart is being developed by Small Giants Developments who in turn have joined forces with local architects The Core Collective to get this project to completion.
I’ve been researching this project for an editorial piece over the past couple of weeks and the whole thing has become a bit of a passion project and fascination to be honest. Like most, my social and professional life is pretty much dominated by technology. Add to this, 2 very young babes and a partner at the whim of hospitality hours and you get a pretty airtight cocoon. Not unlike pretty much everyone I know this social “norm” we’ve created wasn’t something I often questioned (sure I crave a human face and wouldn’t be half the person I am without actual contact with friends and family) but somehow the way I conduct so much of life via a screen was compartmentalised into a different part of life - until recently. The ease with which projects like The Commons have slipped into our ideas of urban living and multi-residential design is somewhat of a relief. It’s projects like this that will help pull the wheel as the metaphorical car driven by our social conscience careens towards the cliff, pulling us around just as we started to pick up speed and giving a little much needed traction to the way we live our lives as neighbors.
Garden plots on the communal rooftop at The Commons Brunswick. Photographer Andrew Wuttke
Living spaces will take full advantage of natural light and clever layout to cancel out the need for air conditioning.
Interior joinery design is refined and considered.
Like its Melbourne counterpart, The Commons Hobart will have an enviable urban location and views that will sweep across the city and the quiet constant of Mount Wellington in the background.
All renders courtesy of Small Giants Developments