���������

BARNET CLOSE, SWINGER HILL

CANBERRA ACT | 1969

Ian McKay and Partners (architect) for the National Capital Development Commission (NCDC)

In the 1960’s, the NCDC saw a need for greater housing choices in Canberra’s private housing market and began testing demand for alternative urban forms. The NCDC developed Barnet Close at Swinger Hill to prototype medium density, cluster housing principles, where buyers could purchase a compact, individual house and lot within a high-amenity, inner urban community. This served as a demonstration project, to reduce risk on the experiment and guide the private developers completing the larger Swinger Hill development.

The project sought to demonstrate how medium density development, when all lots were carefully designed in consideration of each other, could be conducive to building a community while also preserving individual privacy. The houses were developed across Swinger Hill in small groups around a common court to provide more intimate clustering of neighbours and avoid through traffic. The streetscape of the courtyard was carefully detailed, with ramps and flat terraces for children to use as open play space while still providing car access to each dwelling. Privacy is provided through street vegetation and by arranging the house around a private, walled courtyard rather than the use of expansive front gardens typical in suburban settings.