00:03This is designed at 28 square meters as basically half the size of a one-bedroom apartment.
00:11It's meant to be half the price, it's meant to have half the embodied carbon,
00:17it's designed to have half the operational carbon and ideally half the bills.
00:27Nightingale was imagined as a triple bottom-line housing model,
00:32housing that was simultaneously affordable, sustainable and a building that promotes community.
00:41Nightingale Preston is comprised of 55 apartments, one guest house shared by all of the residents,
00:48two commercial spaces, 21 bedroom apartments, 25 two-bedroom apartments and then seven tile house
00:56apartments which have a 28 square meter footprint. So it's a German word for part of house because
01:03the rest of the house exists everywhere else in the building. I'm Jeremy McLeod, I'm the design
01:10director and co-founder of Breed Architecture. I'm also the co-founder of Nightingale Housing.
01:27This building is located in Preston, it's seven kilometres north of the centre of Melbourne.
01:33This is part of a broader project, it's called Preston Crossing, where there's some social housing,
01:39some townhouses, other apartments and then this building that we're in, Nightingale Preston.
01:45Nightingale is a not-for-profit developer so this project was developed where the housing was sold
01:50at cost which is unlike most other housing development. The building's 100% electric,
01:57it's powered off 100% renewables, it's thermally efficient, it has no operational carbon attached to it
02:04and importantly Nightingale has a pay the rent scheme which means that every resident in this
02:10building pays rent annually to the traditional owners in acknowledgement that this country was
02:15stolen, that these lands were never ceded and that there's no treaty with the traditional owners.
02:23Rather than building big penthouses for a select few, on the rooftop we have these beautiful shared
02:28amenities. So we've got a shared laundry, there's some additional storage area, a dining area for
02:36functions that spills out onto the rooftop area. We have shared rooftop garden beds so people can grow
02:44vegetables on the roof so there's a gardening committee that's formed in this building. There
02:50is a beautiful bathhouse that everyone gets to share. People with kids sit around having a chat while
02:56their kids going to bathe together in summer. We're sitting in a 28 square metre tile house.
03:04We have a deck, a beautiful kitchen, a lounge area, a nook that Jam uses as a study, a bathroom
03:12and
03:13upstairs we have the sleeping loft which won't suit a lot of people but it does suit young people who
03:19are
03:19looking for a smaller footprint. Largely due to affordability.
03:25This tile house is imagined as a new form of terrace house. There's a little seat and some steps.
03:34The gate then enables you to be able to have small kids or pets inside that enclosed area.
03:43And then the screen also provides this kind of growing platform for all these climbers to grow up
03:50and vegetate the facade of the building. One of the things that we design into every one of our
03:56apartments whether it be a tile house on the ground floor or an apartment on an upper level is that
04:01we
04:01provide a planter box and a tap. You can treat your deck as an extension of your life, a place
04:07where you
04:08can wash down your boots or do some hobbies outside. Importantly the entry door opens outwards.
04:16This is very unusual in Australia but it's normal in colder European countries. It doesn't just give
04:22us a better thermal seal but it provides us with space inside the very entry to be able to furnish
04:29it,
04:30to be able to customise it to your own needs.
04:34We've designed the entire building to be highly thermally efficient which means we've got a
04:39building that doesn't require air conditioning to cool it in summer but we have designed in
04:44Melbourne's climate zone hydronic heating throughout the entire building and it's located next to the
04:48glass to make this little dining nook a beautiful warm cosy place to dine.
04:56The ceiling height in this space is around four and a half metres which gives you this great sense of
05:01volume but as you step into the living area by designing this simple light fitting and bringing
05:08it down we make it cosier. We intentionally didn't design in furniture or shelves. You can see that
05:19Jams put in this incredible mid-century piece and we love the way that it doesn't touch the ground so
05:26again it kind of draws your eye up it also feels spacious underneath. We also like how Jammers use
05:33the rug to frame the living room to define that space.
05:40The kitchen is made of stainless steel and E0 MDF. Imagine that someone wants to change this kitchen
05:47in 10 years time and this kitchen gets pulled out that stainless steel can be recycled as can the MDF.
05:53And we also pick the kitchen up off the ground so that it seems to float in the space. The
05:59kitchen
05:59has a full-size induction cooktop with four burners, the full-size oven, an integrated dishwasher,
06:05a full-size integrated fridge, overhead cupboards and then full height storage above that. And most
06:11importantly it has a full-size pantry. The stainless steel splash bag can hold magnets which means it can be
06:18used as a kitchen organiser. We add this stainless steel pot rail to be able to add the functionality
06:26where you need it above the sink. The space under the loft in our design phase we imagine this as
06:36a
06:36multifunctional space and Jam chose to put in the desk through that design and construction process.
06:43With the desk Jam chose a generous size so that he doesn't just have to work alone there, two people
06:48can actually work in this space. There is a full-size wardrobe in there and then the joinery was designed
06:57around that to be able to effortlessly get as much storage in and around that desk as possible.
07:05We created a loft space with a relatively low ceiling height. The ladder is made of Victorian hardwood
07:13and the handrail is made of a circular timber dowel to make it easier to go up and down.
07:21The loft level is enclosed by diamond mesh. It also talks to the industrial mesh that's outside our
07:27building that we use to grow plants on. Here you can see that Jam has used it to grow his
07:33devil's ivy on.
07:36Given the relatively low ceiling height, Jam uses a futon to be able to bring the height
07:41of the bed down and make it feel more spacious and lofty.
07:46The storage that runs through can be also used as a little reading nook, as a bench seat. In this
07:53instance, Jam's built in a hanging rail in the same galvanised pipe material as the fire services
07:58to be able to hang all of his hoodies on.
08:03The loft structure is made of hardwood timber beams and we expose those beams to give a bit more
08:09height, a bit more volume underneath that space. We also carry that sense of volume and the exposed
08:15joists through into the bathroom. The bathroom doesn't have a window but it reflects the light from the
08:22living room deep into the bathroom and behind that mirror is a full-length shaving cabinet. So lots
08:28and lots of storage in that space.
08:33On the floor are Australian manufactured brick tiles and they wrap up the floor in stack bond and all
08:40the way up the wall. So it's a singular material which again gives the sense of height.
08:46The bathroom has a floating sink and underneath it we use a copper S-trap pipe so that you know
08:53if
08:53we're exposing the pipe at least it looks beautiful and considered.
08:58We use a architecture of simplicity and architecture of reductionism. So when we take out things like
09:06additional ceiling lining to expose the concrete from the structure above it gives us extra volume.
09:12In doing that it means that we need to curate things like the kitchen exhaust. It means that we
09:18need to expose the fire services. So we work very carefully to curate those service runs but also
09:25choose carefully the materials that we use. The floor is pre-finished cork. It's a highly
09:32sustainable material. In fact it's a carbon sequester rather than the carbon emitter. It works to absorb
09:38impacts out and it's easy to maintain. This tile house apartment is designed in a complex housing
09:47market where an entire generation has been locked out of housing security. We imagine that what we're
09:54providing is the starting point for someone's life not the end point. So we think through the design
10:01from a functionality point of view. We think through the materials from a sustainability and a usability
10:06point of view this is not for everyone. I understand that but I do think that we need to be
10:14offering
10:14something that's different from a broken system to offer someone access to housing and housing security.
10:22This is one of our small attempts to try to drive some positive change in a very very tough economic
10:30climate.
10:37We'll see you next time.
10:37.
10:38.
10:38.
10:38You
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