Five Family

The Kroos family are a family consisting of three generations. Two children in their early teens, their parents & their grandmother. They bought their dwelling over two years ago now & it works perfectly for their lifestyle. They like their space with their own bathroom between them & take full advantage of the communal elements within the building. Grandma is getting old now but still loves to garden & cook most nights, even sometimes for others. They rent out a storage facility on-site as they own a lot of extra items they couldn’t fit anywhere in the dwelling but are enjoying their reduced lifestyle. Grandma gets weekly checkups at the local medical centre & her medication from the pharmacy. But she is not alone, in 2006 one in five people lived in a household that contained two or more generations.16 She enjoys herself here with all her friends & gets to be close to her Grandchildren

Income Groups

Single $42,276 p.a

Couples $84,552 p.a

Families $113,620 p.a

Affordable per p.a

Single $12,682 p.a

Couples $25,365 p.a

Families $34,086 p.a

Affordable per week

Singles $234.90 p.w

Couples $487.80 p.w

Families $655.50 p.w

Room Schedule

8 x Singles

3 x Couples

4 x Four person families

3 x Five person families

1 x Five Person co-housing share house (Singles) x ÷

30%

Financial

52

Financially the project is designed to be a system of affordable housing. Considering both the annual income of singles, couples & families as well as those groups experiencing housing stress, aiming to restrict dwellers to only pay 30% of the medium income of their group. For example, a couple joining Reciprocity would pay 30% of the medium average of couples as found by the Australian Bureau of Statistics17 as their dwelling’s rent. This extends to all the demographics in the “City”. This strategy keeps dwellers within the bounds of affordable housing. By capping dwellers’ rent to 30% of their annual income, the scheme provides equity as an agonistic approach. With diversity within the society, the city has the chance to pull away from conflict which is seen more commonly in the housing market currently, instead providing a more coherent & supportive environment.

Architecturally, the design of clusters within blocks take an Existenzminium approach. The reduction of floor area per dwelling type & the introduction of communal living, dining, cooking & bathing areas heavily reduce the cost of living by reducing initial building costs. Therefore, reducing the stress on the financial system.

Tenure

Reciprocity is a co-operative governance structure with different layers of ownership built within its fabric. The implementation of a mixed tenure scheme is used to accommodate those at different levels of housing needs, progression economically & levels of housing stress.

At the top, we have Owner Occupied dwellings. A traditional purchasing structure where the scheme sells off a certain percentage of the dwelling to gain cash flow used to secure deposits for loans. This is an internally run system not exposing the scheme to the market. Participants purchase the dwelling with an initial deposit & make repayments to pay off their dwelling until ownership.

The Shared Equity program sees participants invest an initial amount into the co-operative, securing tenure within the program. This style of tenure is more closely related to the traditional European version of a co-operative structure as seen in ‘Alternate models’.18 This program provides long-term rental tenure at affordable prices for those not looking to own.

Tenure

If dwellers can not achieve the initial deposit of Shared Equity, the Rental Equity Saver is built as a form of tenure. Where participants agree through a rental agreement on the length of a lease with the co-operative body to save the required amount. Rent is slightly subsidised by the Kitty & the difference goes towards their saver. The money can then be put towards their initial deposit for Shared Equity.

Rental Crisis is the lowest layer of the scheme where occupants pay a heavily subsidised rent provided by the Kitty. Occupants are given opportunities to work & up-skill with local commercial elements found on-site as a form of both rent & income. The last resort provided to those in need. Agreements are made through the co-operative community on lengths of stay & rent.

Specifically, the program aims to foster economic resilience through strategic governance by providing opportunities for upskilling & increased employment viability, as well as generating a flexible program between work & leisure.

Kitty

Each week, the top two tiers of the financial system, as well as revenue from locally owned (Reciprocity) on-site commercial elements, add money towards the Kitty. This can be anywhere from $24,000 up. The Kitty is used as the backbone for economic resilience within the scheme. Providing both a safety net as well as eliminating the stress from defaults with may occur.

The Kitty is also the main source of funding towards subsidising rent for both Rental Equity Saver as well as Rental Crisis levels.

Funding

Reciprocity will function off two types of initial investment to fund the construction of the project. These include impact investments, an investment that is made into organisations, projects or funds to generate measurable social & environmental outcomes, alongside a financial return.19 Reciprocity is providing resilient affordable housing towards low-income earners, an incentive that investors could be socially drawn to as an opportunity for ethical investment. But also with the chance of return upon the investment.

The second type of investment is from the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS). The NRAS incentive is a grant that is paid per dwelling. A dwelling is acted under the scheme if it is rented to eligible tenants at a rate that is at 80 per cent or less of the market value rent.20 We are seeking incentives for all three of our lower-end rental dwelling types as we will be providing rental amounts at 80 per cent of the market rate to fund the project.

Reuse

An example of reuse that Reciprocity aims to emulate is that by OFFICE, a not-for-profit government charity that delivers social housing projects with their framework of ‘Retain, Repair and Reinvest’. Their methodology re-assesses the agency of the existing architecture on site, pushing it to be re-imagined into functioning social housing.21 In their Ascot Vale, OFFICE aimed to retain the existing communities by not relocating residents elsewhere. They repaired the existing structures which reduced carbon emissions & in turn the money saved was reinvested into the project to improve comfort.22 A similar strategy will be used with all existing buildings on-site to not only make room for residents but keeping heritage & history embedded into the site.

Internally, the blocks consist of three prominent materials. Plywood, concrete & steel. The materiality of the concrete structural elements paired with soft plywood walls, infused with native climbing plantations, sets the calming & earthy mood for each storey. The internal cladding is left mostly bare for users to decorate themselves to their desired colours & themes. Each level of the building contains different levels of privacy gradients from private, semi-private & communal public areas. This vignette is taken from just outside two of the single’s dwellings within each cluster. Each dwelling has been considered to leave a generous amount of room surrounding the dwelling for residents to occupy & program as they desire as their own semi-private areas.

Typical Block

As residents transition into the cooperative community, the construction of the architectural design further promotes this process of integration & unity. A typical block consists of six clusters of fifty people. The three hundred people are spread over twelve levels, with the ground floor of each block left as programmable space for commercial use. The block also contains a communal roof terrace where participants can gather in an open aired, airy space to cook, garden or relax.

The block’s strategic planning & design encourages diverse demographic groups, families & individuals to interact in a co-living process through integrating passive & active spaces, mingling & sharing spaces & areas of common interests. The integration of communal living spaces, bathrooms & kitchens are areas that encourage circumstantial interactions among individuals to build new connections & networks. A result of how each room is laid out to circulate a central courtyard is simultaneously a way of communicating on a common ground, where bonding & unity can occur.

With limited to no hard cladding on the exterior of the building, sectionally the blocks are light-filled, airy environments with the overall structure being highly porous. Capturing the state of polyvalence through half floors, where the verticality & differences between levels & groups of people, can also become means of accidental connections. The lightweight frame roof with polycarbonate sheeting lets light penetrate through to the terrace floor, but also down the central voids of the structure. Smells & sounds of food & strangers playing the piano can travel throughout the different levels of building through block height voids. With stairwells as well as two internal lift cores, the structure is accessible to all dwelling types.

Co-living

San Riemo, a project by Summacumfemmer with the first housing project by the KOOPERATIVE GROSSSTADT, a housing co-operative found in 2015. Located in München Germany, the project consists of twenty-seven flats that contain communal & commercial spaces. Their adaptable floor programming is used to meet the requirements of each dwelling type’s needs which surround the communal elements such as bathrooms & kitchens. These communal areas are “not purely a place for cooking but at the same time a living entrance hall and distribution space to the surrounding rooms, including the bathroom. One could call this a compromise or an advantage: everyone can decide for themselves how they want to furnish and use this generous space.”23 Similarly, Reciprocity aims to provide not generous space within its communal elements for users to use as they wish. A place of interaction, cooking or passage. A co-living element is embedded into the architecture to encourage co-existing.

Each platform of the building not only becomes a point of congregation but also plays a role in activating a lifestyle where work & leisure are balanced. This vignette from the communal kitchen spaces represents the coming together of different people in many unique ways & interests. The double-height ceilings of these areas provided architecturally are open, light-filled spaces. A nice place to congregate & cook meals, interact with fellow residents & relax. An internal view of the layering of the clusters looking out onto the view past. This view displays the internal balconies where occupants can dwell while still feeling connected to the rest of the cluster through the verticality of voids & half levels. Vegetation growing throughout as light flows through the cluster.

The facade of the building consists of manoeuvring elements of louvred windows, allowing users input into the interior & exterior of the building. The voids provided by the central courtyards allow sufficient sunlight penetration & the growth of greenery throughout. Looking from the outside in, we can see the porosity of the structure. Instead of hard cladding, transparent polycarbonate sheeting is used for privacy towards the outside world & with the introduction of planter boxes on the exterior, the building brings a sense of life to the dwellers whilst upholding a light-filled structure.

Site Model (Expressing Tree Placement) 1:2000

Site Model (Explaining Block Tectonic’s) 1:2000

Heritage Listed Administration Building:

- Library and educational room/s

- Medical Centre

- Accommodation

- Central courtyard meeting space

- Connection to housing block 2

- Additional Storage facilities

Master plan

Programmatically, Reciprocity focuses on re-conditioning & re-adapting the existing building elements with the site, being landscaped in response to the wider ecological conditions of Mayfield East & the remaining BHP area. Greater Newcastle’s heritage is fundamental to its cultural economy. Regeneration of heritage assets through adaptive reuse will deliver unique & exciting places, along with opportunities for investment & jobs while celebrating their history & character. At the scale of the blocks, our goal was to keep all pre-existing structures on-site & work by adapting our blocks to build complex tectonics to achieve the required amount of blocks to reside residents. The blocks play out upon the axis of existing infrastructure & newly constructed pathways to invite unity & continuity between the housing & communal commercial areas. Blocks combined with hardscaped pathways create outdoor zones which provide chances for respite & refuge, especially in moments of heat or rain. Selected sections of hardscaped pathways contain outdoor room to direct user through site. Recreation & sporting fields are strategically placed at either end of the scheme & an amphitheatre for entertainment.

Computer Building (Southern Boundary Entrance Point):

- Additional communal amenities (places of worship/laundries/ etc)

- Main transportation arrival hub

- Supply centres drop off-point (Medical supplies etc.)

- Accommodation

- Connection to housing block 1

- Additional Storage facilities

Second Administration Building (top right-hand corner of site)

- Day-care centre 2

- Additional community amenities (places of worship/laundries etc)

- Accommodation

- Connection to housing block 3

Considering our co-operative type governance structure with mixed tenured groups, we sought to use the existing structures as both residential as well as commercial elements providing services such as a daycare centre for families living within the scheme who can bring there children, increasing a co-existing living. Across the scheme, Reciprocity will provide residence for 3000 occupants with 600 spaces being dedicated to three ancillary buildings.

Outdoor Rooms

Millenary Park by Ujirany & New Directions Landscape Architects, located in Budapest Hungry, uses transparent, glass shelters that create corridors on its site to distribute users throughout the site. Their ambitions were brought to the scheme with its intention of providing both shelter & spaces between housing blocks whilst not interrupting views of the broader landscape programming.24 With ambitions of connectivity & co-existing, we see the use of these glass shelters as not only shelter & refuge, but a means to direct dwellers on pathways of connectivity. Increasing the chances of mingling & conversation to occur.

Environmental

From an environmental stance, the Reciprocity will negotiate storm-water intake from Industrial Drive & the vulnerability of the natural site’s floor plains, to be remediated & recycled. This will be achieved by designing specific storm-water catchment systems on the western boundary, collecting water & directing it towards the large water catchment located on the west side of the rolling shed. The western side of the site will be predominantly dedicated to water remediation as water passes through the existing rolling shed, now a dedicated remediation centre for UV filtration.

The water, once leaving the rolling shed, will be channeled throughout the remainder of the site creating an experiential moment between both water & human pathways, furthering the idea of the landscape being seen as a spectacle. With the original site remediated, the scheme pushes further, introducing the processes of irrigation & remediation to the broader surrounding areas of the Steelworks site, eventually the water will make its way back to natural open water bodies, in turn closing the loop.

The proposed blocks upon site exceed the height limits of the site to provide opportunities for mixed communal amenities throughout the housing core, satisfying our spatial objectives internally. But also accommodates the LEP’s expectations of a proposal to be well-serviced by recreational & commercial uses for future residents. The scheme developed also satisfies the GNMP for 2036 in ‘protecting rural amenity outside urban centres through stormwater remediation, improving resilience to natural hazards, particularly the flooding of the site.’25