Architect Brad Swartz stars in documentary; offers design solution to Aussie housing dream gone awol

Melbourne architect Brad Swartz features UBank’s All I Need Project documentary which challenges the ‘Australian dream’ of owning a big house on a big block of land.

McKenna Moroz

16 Feb 2016 • 3m read • View Author

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Melbourne architect Brad Swartz features on a recent documentary which challenges the ‘Australian dream’ of owning a big house on a big block of land.

Guest speaking as a part of UBank’s All I Need Project, Swartz uses his award-winning 27sqm Darlinghurst apartment as an example of how to use space efficiently in a growing cityscape.

Hosted by Andrew Daddo, the documentary brings the sustainability challenges posed by urban sprawl to the fore by demonstrating how two families can be happy with less but more efficient space.

In the documentary, Swartz uses his 2015 Houses Award winning Darlinghurst Apartment as a guide on how to live comfortably and affordably in a more compact space.

Swartz shows this at Darlinghurst through his use of innovative multi-functioning joinery and carefully planned design solutions. Key to the project is the central white cabinetry that divides the former-studio apartment into three portions; a living room/kitchen; a step-up bedroom; and a bathroom.

His cabinet system’s design makes use of different configurations that can be changed with the use of sliding doors and hatchets.

This allows for the space to be constantly adapted, either into a place to store wine and books, into a small desk, and critically, into a hatch that opens through to the bedroom.