Architects concerned about new housing designs for NSW pattern book

Thirteen new designs have been commissioned for the New South Wales Housing Pattern Book, though some architects believe the “cookie cutter approach” won’t address the current housing crisis.

It is the second tranche of designs to be added to the standardised list, with 18 in total since November last year.

The state government’s pattern book aims to make the delivery of homes in NSW faster, as anyone who uses the pre-approved designs would be given an accelerated approval pathway.

The designs are for terraces, semi-detached dual occupancy and manor houses, low-rise apartment buildings, mid-rise residential flat buildings, and more.

Architect Amelia Holliday’s Surry Hills-based studio was initially shortlisted in a recent NSW pattern book competition.

Despite their non-winning entry, Ms Holliday felt the competition incentivised collaboration across relevant industries and encouraged a streamlined planning process.

“It’s a great opportunity for architects to be involved in creating a series of standardised designs that are of high quality,” she said.

“Some of these projects haven’t been done to a particularly high design standard, so architecture involvement in more projects is definitely a plus.”

Kylie Mills, a registered architect and certified principal design practitioner in NSW, said she had more questions than answers following the announcement of the new winning patterns.

“If it saves a lot of the paperwork processes, that’s wonderful,” she said.

“But they haven’t actually dictated what sort of materials these designs might be built out of.”

Ms Mills said her concern was whether pattern books remained a relevant solution today — especially with sustainability in mind.

“New isn’t always necessary. How can we make our current buildings better is really what we should be asking.”

Changing expectations for pattern books

Sydney, Newcastle, Orange, Bathurst and Dubbo have a long history with pattern books.

The earliest documented architectural pattern books arrived in Australia in 1810.

Like with Britain, the aftermath of World War II and the population boom led to a significant housing shortage, said Matthew Stephens, a research librarian at Caroline Simpson Library with Museums of History NSW.

“Pattern books were an easy way of illustrating the options that consumers could choose from and linking them to housing providers,” Dr Stephens said.

“While it will always be difficult to quantify how many buildings have been constructed in Australia using pattern books, many examples of buildings constructed from subsequent publications can be found over a period of two centuries.”

Creating patterns that are modest, adaptable and affordable was the core focus.

Nowadays, there are greater expectations for the patterns to also be more socially considered.

Samantha Donnelly, a lecturer at the School of Interior Architecture at the University of Technology Sydney, felt the current patterns may not provide “adequate diversity and access” for occupants.

“These pattern books are about densifying the suburbs through better apartment terrace building designs, which is urgently needed,” she said.

Dr Donnelly referenced the need for more efforts to address the design and delivery of women’s refuges and long-term housing.

“The fact many older women lack housing and can’t access the current system isn’t being addressed by just creating more patterns.

“We can use architectural design to benefit people who need social impact. The patterns are creating better design solutions but it’s not targeting particular people who need it most.”

‘Homogenised boxes’ or a fast-tracked housing solution

NSW’s use of pattern books isn’t dissimilar to London, historically speaking.

A dominant design is the New London Vernacular within the London Housing Design Guide, which is described aptly as “great background architecture”.

These predominantly brick-clad block apartments are often square and practical, dotted across London boroughs.

In the United Kingdom more broadly, the humble bungalow was considered a quality but low-cost temporary housing option following World War II, earning the nickname of “homogenised boxes” from one King Charles decades later.

Despite no longer being commonly built, these existing single-storey dwellings fetch a pretty penny today, much like inner Sydney’s terraces.

It will remain to be seen whether NSW’s new standardised patterns will have the same popularity in years’ time.

Planning and Public Spaces Minister Paul Scully noted the pattern book had the “stamp of approval” from the office of the Government Architect NSW.

“Sydney is currently the second most expensive city in the world and has less housing diversity than it did a century ago,” he said.

“We want new homes to be built faster, but the pattern book will mean those homes are good quality, sustainable and cost-effective.”