Wastes of space: ‘wow’ factor flats forget families

Developers are going to have to provide more family-friendly options in  medium and high-rise blocks to make a serious dent in the housing crisis, says a new report.

But too many architects, designers and developers are more concerned with the “wow” factor of open plan design that the practicalities of family life, according to new research in Australian Geographer.

They are too small, don’t have enough bedrooms, and they lack hallways – the essential dumping ground for schoolkids’ backpacks and sporting equipment: a hallway, says a report by Julie Power in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Researchers from UNSW Sydney interviewed families, architects and developers, and analysed the floor plans of 368 apartments in Sydney, Parramatta and Liverpool.

Co-author, Professor Phil Oldfield said a “fundamental block” to families living in apartments was they were designed for investors, and not the people who live there.

Developers focus more on the number of bedrooms and location than on architectural design or layout, said the head of UNSW’s School of Built Environment.

“They prefer generic, standardised apartment layouts that meet the minimum regulations because they’re cheaper to make and easier to sell, but that is fundamentally mismatched with what families want.”

The research found families often wanted a hallway and storage, with a place to dump children’s schoolbags and shoes. However more than half of studied apartments opened directly on to the living room because developers knew large open-plan spaces had a bigger wow factor.

A spokesperson from the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure told the SMH that good design examples for family-friendly apartments and town houses, would be included in the proposed Pattern Book for housing design.

Many families wanted more space and a third bedroom, but the research found 19 per cent of apartments had three bedrooms. A developer said smaller units maximised profits.

Despite claims families don’t want to live in apartments, the ABS Census of Population and Housing data found a quarter of households living in apartments in NSW are families with children. Most of these families rent.

Oldfield, who also lives in a 70 square metre flat with his two children, said “While a two-bedroom apartment is just about affordable, three-bedders are as rare as hen’s teeth and they’re super expensive,” he said.

You can purchase and download the full Australian Geographic report HERE.  It was written by Hyungmo Yang of Hanyang University School of Architecture, Seoul, South Korea, with  Dr Hazel Easthope and Prof Philip Oldfield, both from the School of Built Environment, University of New South Wales,