• Project: Community Housing Woodstock Street

• Location: St Kilda

• Client: City of Port Phillip and Port Phillip Housing Authority

Project Description

As a redevelopment of underutilised land this project underscores the social benefit that can be realised when local councils and service providers work in collaboration. Thirty one residential units are provided in this rooming house over an existing public carpark in Balaclava. Located within easy walking distance of shopping and transport the residents are long-term, local residents who have been displaced by gentrification in the area. 

The building reconciles two main building types represented in this area: the single-storey Victorian weatherboard cottage and the two-storey brick warehouse/shop. While the built form relates to the relatively recent context, the area’s earlier history as a Koori meeting place is referred to in the patterning of the brickwork – an integrated art collaboration between indigenous artist Ben McKeown and MGS.