As a lack of housing diversity and affordability continues to prove a major grappling point for many Australians, a team of Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) students from the University of Melbourne have taken on the challenge and reimagined the great Australian dream using a holistic approach to offsite manufacturing. Source: Timberbiz
As the winners of the inaugural Fleetwood Challenge Cup in partnership with prefabAUS, the students’ ‘ecoShip’ project was chosen for its thoughtful consideration of the entire project lifecycle.
The inaugural Fleetwood Challenge Cup was established to support the next generation of built design professionals for the rapidly changing construction industry. Connecting industry and academics, the competition was developed in partnership with industry association prefabAUS.
Cross-disciplinary teams were asked to address Australia’s looming shortage of affordable housing by using offsite construction and prefabrication methods to develop high quality, aesthetically pleasing, affordable housing solutions suitable that could be relocated cost effectively over a 50-year period.
The innovative solution allowed the University of Melbourne team to effectively consider the core values of affordability, functionality and sustainability whilst also supporting social and community benefits.
Applying the framework of Industry 4.0 through offsite manufacturing their modular design solution, the ‘ecoShip’ is designed to deliver time, cost and quality benefits unrivalled by more traditional construction methods.
“The offsite manufacturing and prefabrication industry has changed significantly – the gains it can offer now in terms of sustainability, flexibility and customisation provides the industry with new options for design balanced with affordability,” Fleetwood Australia’s Managing Director and CEO Brad Denison said.
“The creative use of design materials by students to deliver innovative solutions has surpassed all industry expectations.”
An AEC University of Queensland team secured second place, with an innovative Link POD design, that provided multistorey living spaces to accommodate ever-changing accommodation requirements.
Third place was awarded to Curtin University, which developed a design called Infinity Apartments, a unique social housing concept.
A Fleetwood Industry Award was presented to another team from Curtin University for using a novel and inspiring approach to incorporate prefabrication, flexibility, relocation and adaptability elements and holistically integrating the use of architecture, engineering and construction design disciplines to address the challenge brief.
