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Brisbane Architecture
Brisbane has one of the fastest growing populations in Australia which is placing an incredible pressure on residential accommodation to keep up with the demand. Brisbane architects are in an influential position to be able to create appropriate social and economic responses to residential communities of increased densities. Brisbane’s senior population are not immune from this as they face their retirement years in sunny Queensland.
The range of resident accommodation available to retirees is beginning to align with current inner city and coastal market trends. It is now not uncommon to see multi storey apartments instead of the more traditional single storey Independent Living Unit duplex. Both have their place, however with the increasing shortage of large parcels of land in Brisbane and south east Queensland that are capable of supporting viable integrated retirement and aged care villages, going “vertical” with residential retirement and aged care living seems the logical answer for making the best use of the land available to address the ever increasing aging population.
Merrin and Cranston are Brisbane architects who are stretching the boundaries with this issue every day. It is rare to briefed on a project that does not involve a multi-storey building solution in Brisbane. Our most recent project incorporates 122 Apartments in 4-5 storey building with Communal Recreation and Social facilities, plus a 90 bed Aged Care facility in a 3 storey building with Central Services located in a basement carpark all within a 1.3ha coastal suburban site.
This is a case in point where we are finding that in order to make aged care developments viable, design solutions are needing to go beyond customary Town Planning densities. As Brisbane grows in maturity as a city, inner city residential towers that integrate Aged Care, Retirement Living, Community Health Services and Commercial/ Retail infrastructure maybe Brisbane’s future Urban Lifestyle Village.