Parapod is a double pronged strategy we have devised for the suburb of Mayfield, which aims to provide dwellings for 3000 people, and mobilise underutilised backyards and properties against housing unaffordability. Our solution is an arrangement of mass housing volumes along the Mayfield Urban Renewel Corridor, complemented by a modular system designed to attach and augment. These elements will be rolled out in four stages. The brief required proposals to be accompanied by a financial model by which the project could be delivered. Mayfield has strong connections to the city and public infrastructure. Additionally, it has a vibrant and diverse community, and remains largely underdeveloped in terms of high-density housing. Given its lower property costs compared to neighboring suburbs, it is an ideal locale for an affordable housing initiative.

While researching the demographics of Mayfield we came across a statistic that 800 dwellings were unoccupied. In the spirit of affordable and pragmatic housing, the best way to accommodate 3000 people is to place them in these vacant houses, but that doesnt make for an interesting architecture proposal.

Our chosen site centers around the Mayfield Woolworths and its surrounding areas, a location currently dominated by parking spaces.

This did however broaden our scope to wider mayfield, where we observed an abundance of backyard space and realised that these spaces afforded an opportunity for a temporary dwelling which could supplement existing properties.

The scheme is structured into three stages, plus an additional preliminary stage designed to provide immediate housing through the use of underutilized existing housing stock. The three stages are designed to be implemented over a 13-year period.