Last Sunday was Sustainable House Day in Melbourne and seeing that it was nice day out I thought I would check out some of the houses that were open to the public.
Going on my experience from last year’s Sustainable House Day some of the houses can be a little hit and miss and this year was no different as I checked out houses in East & West Brunswick and my own suburb of Yarraville. Whilst the smaller houses were less than inspiring I was rather impressed by the Westwyck Eco-Housing Sustainability Development in West Brunswick.
Westwyck occupies the building and grounds of the former Brunswick West Primary School . The Westwyck developers aimed to bring the building to new and vibrant life as an urban demonstration showpiece of sustainable development and good design. Working on this project have been idontwearblack favourites Multiplicity alongside Mills Gorman and Michael McKenna with Taylor Cullity Lethlean taking care of the landscape.
The project is only part way through but is impressive both in ideology and its architecture. Whereas many of the houses on display during Sustainable House Day are what I would call “hippy” houses – oldish houses being renovated by people with a very environmental bent, Westwyck is a refreshing example of contemporary sustainable architecture that would have mass appeal.
