Perth-based CODA Studio has snapped up this year’s national architectural ‘Think Brick’ About Face 2009 Awards for an inventive fix for homelessness.
?CODA’s winning entry offers a solution to youth homelessness in Mandurah in Western Australia by creating a neighbourhood with social housing at its core. With more than 100,000 people sleeping on the streets each night in Australia, including 22,000 youths aged under 18, homelessness is an issue that confronts urban planners and architects nationwide. ?
?“CODA has a very clear social agenda and a desire to create affordable social housing solutions. We also have a strong preoccupation with pattern, texture and materiality, so this was the perfect brief for us,” Emma Williamson, director and co-founder of CODA, said.? ?
“Our inspiration came from the idea of using affordable, versatile materials to create a connected community, with bricks acting as a binding agent to deliver training, mentoring and support facilities wrapped around a social housing neighbourhood,” said CODA’s Kieran Wong.?
