Abstract:
Austin Mitchell’s Quarter Acre Pavlova Paradise is a view of what New Zealanders are
seen to aspire to; their own house, on their own large section. But the development
and growth patterns that have emerged from this vision have fuelled many issues,
including the continuing unsustainable expansion of developed land known as
suburban sprawl; a lack of flexibility in the existing housing stock; and the increasing
un-affordability of housing.
This thesis aims to address these issues by exploring the relationships between them
and the potential solutions to each issue, combining them together to address all
issues with a single design approach. It will discuss how the relationships between infill housing strategies, modular prefab construction techniques and flexible design
principals can be explored to aid in the development of affordable, flexible housing
within higher density suburban environments. A site in the Wellington suburb of
Khandallah was used for the design exploration as it exhibits many of the typical
conditions found when designing infill housing in Wellington.
Modular prefab construction and flexible design principles together can create a highly
flexible housing development, with easily interchangeable modules allowing housing
units to adapt to their occupants’ changing needs. This modular design also allows for
high-density stacking of housing units and efficient use of space, while reducing costs
to make housing more affordable.
The design component of this thesis explores these principals and presents one
possible design solution, incorporating modular prefab design, flexible design principles and infill housing strategies to create a higher-density suburban environment with affordable and flexible infill housing.
