Amy Degenhart led a guided walking tour through The Hinterland at Varsity Lakes, a precinct that showcased innovative approaches to gentle density and design-led housing solutions.
The humble backyard was considered a precious “little piece of earth,” as Robert Menzies once said in 1942, but it – along with the side and front yards – could also be one of the best solutions to our housing crisis by way of a simple strategy referred to as “Housing 1 TO 3,” i.e., hosting not just one but three homes on a single lot.
But if this idea made people a bit nervous about the character and amenity of their neighbourhood, they were encouraged to join Amy Degenhart, LFRAIA, for a walking tour of The Hinterland at Varsity Lakes to look at some examples prepared earlier. In fact, much earlier, as the first Gallery Collection home dated all the way back to the first few years of this century. At nearly 25 years old (or young, as most were still looking fresh), these homes were considered virtually “classics,” not just due to their turn-of-the-century origin, but because of their rather unfortunate rarity as well.
The affordable and diverse housing typology that was discussed was an early example of putting from one to five homes on a single detached dwelling lot in a low- to medium-density neighbourhood. This collection of homes served as Amy’s inspiration for what could have been one of the quickest and most achievable ways of creating affordable, well-located housing choice. Of the examples on display, there were a few of Amy’s favourites, including one that hid density in plain sight, surprising even the neighbours when she revealed that what looked like one home was in fact four.
