COTTON TREE PILOT HOUSING

Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

1992-1994

Clare Design

The Cotton Tree Housing started as a pilot project instigated by the Queensland government 'to investigate affordable housing that is socially, environmentally and aesthetically appropriate to the Sunshine Coast region.' It was realized as a mix of public housing (four three-bedroom units with ground level access, a ground floor disabled apartment and apartments for singles above ground) and private houses (eight family units). Careful design, drawing on the local vernacular of beach houses and accumulated empirical experience, has resulted in homes that require no air-conditioning in these sub-tropical climes. A substantial stand of paperbark trees was retained and sensitively integrated into the complex. Site planning achieves a layering of intermediary thresholds between public and private to reach the units, and beyond these is often another layered transition between private terrace and communal garden. The result is subtle invitations to interaction with neighbors and the formation of communal bonds. This arrangement, as well as the internal organization of the units in plan and section, guides breezes across the site and through the dwellings and linking stairwells. The interiors are also kept cool by the way the roofs overhang and shades project to protect balconies and windows from the fierce sun. Lightweight claddings shade the main walls and draw ventilation up the cavity that separates them from these walls. All this also leads to great visual vivacity, enhanced by the lush vegetation that is starting to assert its presence. Shades of green: Low energy/high performance; long life, loose fit; embedded in place; health and happiness; community and connection

[photos by Richard Stringer; diagram Clare Design]