Density Diversity Done Well Social Housing Demonstration Projects
Exploring Queensland housing design to meet our community's changing needs.
From competition to demonstration
In 2017, the Office of the Queensland Government Architect ran a design competition that sought new ‘missing middle’ housing ideas for Queensland to meet contemporary community, urban and environmental challenges. The ‘missing middle’ is a term used in the South-East Queensland Regional Plan to describe dwellings that sit between high-rise, high-density living and the free-standing suburban family home. The Department of Housing and Public Works (HPW), through its social housing program, is considered a key ‘missing middle’ influencer given its substantial landholdings in middle-ring, low-density suburbs across the state.
On 19 December 2018, it was announced that the department would deliver 20 social housing demonstration projects in partnerships with private sector architects.
These 20 demonstration projects would build on the ideas that came out of the Density and Diversity Done Well competition, supplemented with additional projects commissioned by the department.
All projects responded to the original challenge of the competition: to be a good neighbour and create a good neighbourhood.
New design guidelines for social housing have been developed from lessons learnt from the first 10 demonstration projects. The Guidelines for Social Housing are available here.