The Youth 2 Independence (Y2I) project presents an opportunity to demonstrate leadership in the design and delivery of affordable housing models for youth between the ages of 16 and 24 years.
Taking the ‘education-first’ approach, the development offers accommodation for youth at risk of homelessness together with, for the first time, an urban community hub that delivers communal spaces to support, inspire and provide opportunity.
Y2I will be the second accredited Education First Youth Foyer in southern Tasmania and provide a supported environment, underpinned by education and real-life learning, to enable and empower residents with skills that are relevant and sustainable to the workforce.
The development includes 26 independent residential units (including two accessible living units), a two-bedroom manager’s apartment, shared facilities, administration facilities, a ‘hub’ space connecting young people (including residents and non-residents) with training opportunities and a hole-in-the-wall café.
Youth 2 Independence project. Design by LIMINAL Architecture. Render by Synthetica.
A UNIQUE CONTEXT
LIMINAL’s design has been influenced by a unique housing programme, the layered urban context, the heritage masonry characterising the immediate surrounds, the presence of residential neighbours and the natural landscape as backdrop.
Located in a transitional position between commercial and city precincts, the site holds a bookend status and acts as a ‘marker’ within the larger city context.
As an infill, medium density development, it addresses the importance of increasing density to underutilised city sites, addresses the housing shortage crisis that Tasmania faces and integrates social, economic and environmental sustainability.
WAYFINDING AND CONNECTION
The Y2I project is conceived as a network of connecting spaces with an ‘infill’ of circulation and social spaces that work to create a matrix connecting the individual housing modules to create a whole - a micro-village with streets, squares and gathering spaces.
The ‘in-between’ spaces become the lungs and social connectors of the building providing circulation, gathering and quiet nooks, landscaped areas and fresh air.
The development becomes a wayfinding device that is achieved through a series of individual blocks – the in-between spaces are the glue that enables the whole to come together while enabling the individual to remain intact as part of a whole.
INTERLINKING MODULARITY, VIBRANCY AND ACTIVATION
The building is made up of modular housing units that are pushed and pulled to create individual expression and serve to open up social areas, break-out nooks and green spaces, enabling natural elements to perforate the circulation spaces.
The translucent, light-weight skin that ‘cloaks’ the building adds a layer of vibrancy, picking up on the red and orange hues of the contextual palette while also offering shading and privacy for the building’s occupants.
Vibrancy will be generated not only through the colour palette but by ensuring the building is activated with life on the street edge at street level and above through its programming.
