This project involved undertaking the design and documentation of a new armed forces residential accommodation precinct in regional Victoria. This new Living in Accommodation (L.I.A) facility comprises 216, self-contained accommodation units of Level 5 standard and two multi-purpose Common Facilities.

The development represents an innovative approach to housing with the design resolution placing a greater emphasis on occupant comfort through passive and active techniques, coupled with the need to create a campus style environment. The design team moved away from traditional masterplanning of Level 5 accommodation standards where pedestrian access is shared with vehicles. The realised scheme has separated these to create a pedestrian / community street which is activated at key nodes by the two community facilities and a BBQ area. These insertions, in conjunction with the sensitively integrated landscape scheme, provide places where people can meet and socialise whilst strengthening connections to the existing precincts at the site.

To further enhance this human scale and integration within the existing landscape, the use of timber throughout the development was carefully considered. Planes of timber battening, solid timber cladding and the exposed timber roof structures were applied to create a composition that breaks up the scale of the development, playing on the contrast of light and shadow, with their appearance being allowed to weather to a natural state linking the buildings to their immediate environment. In addition, the use of timber cladding and screening enabled the passive heating and cooling strategies to be realised, through the application of sunscreens and a reverse concrete veneer wall systems.