Throughout 2017 a group of demography and planning consultants have been conceptualising a vertical multi-age precinct in response to the lack of retirement options and the housing accessibility in the inner city of Melbourne.
The team of consultants, consisting of architects Marchese Partners, quantity surveyors Slattery, SGS Economics and Planning, and landscape architects Papworth Davies, had come together after discovering the main points of what makes Melbourne a desirable living location, and through their research, found that currently Melbourne’s inner city offers no dedicated retirement community.
Joining to support the project in later stages was community engagement group Capire and wayfinding specialists Vivid Communications.
Consultant on the project, Marchese Partners architect Simon Drysdale, explained that the speculative project could be used to inform government and industry about the very best ways a multi-age precinct (or MAP for short) could host “third-phase” living.
“Residents who choose to live in the high-rise of the CBD, Docklands or Southbank should have options. Our idea demonstrates ‘ageing in place’ at an urban level,” Mr Drysdale said.
“This idea means that you don’t have to go back to the suburbs if your city adopts these types of facilities. It’s an idea about social resilience.”Fellow team consultant Ellen Witte of SGS Economics and Planning had identified “demand” for such facilities and had studied innovative international exemplars that were based on a common community desire to fight isolation by mingling a cohort of different ages together.
Mr Drysdale pointed out that the project drew a distinction between third phase living and aged- care facilities, and aims to showcase how positive convergences can happen when a community is intentionally designed to cater for diversity.
Consultants workshopped what such a high-density model might look like and generated a return brief, that included ideal elements such as transport accessibility, public and private shared spaces, a mix of housing types, sizes and price points, all intended to be age and socially diverse.
However, Director of Clients and Strategy at Slattery Belinda Coates concluded that the project was deliberately aspirational to gain the attention of government and community stakeholders.
“The challenge for government is to be able to see the value in the enrichment of communities that would flow from these types of developments,” Mr Drysdale said.
