→ Building
We designed and built a fit-out within the tight budgetary constraints of $140/sqm

→ Community
We designed the groundwork for a new shared workspace community experience through a spatial layout to create a communal space for collaboration, discourse, and respite.

More than a self-built interior fit-out project, this project was born out of a drive to innovate a business model to create space for creative freedom and intellectual autonomy.

Habitat Fitzroy North was envisioned as a new practice model that empowered architects to have more agency over the projects we say yes to, and the others we say no to. It’s a practice model where we no longer need to accept mediocre work just to pay the bills, and have the agency to only accept work with architectural merit, saving both ourselves and clients time and stress.

In addition to increasing agency, we aimed to create a community of people around us with similar values, and used this project to explore the process of creating a community from scratch. Ultimately, at its heart, we explored, together, the meaning of community, from initial inspections with real estate agents, commercial lease negotiations with legal teams, designing and delivering a budget constrained fit-out, to managing a 16-people-strong community space for seven years that became central to local identity.

+ Achieved 100% occupancy

+ Achieved a fit-out with minimal ongoing maintenance costs

+ Built a community that stayed together through the 2020 Covid Pandemic

Architect
Steven Chu (Director & Project Lead)

Builder
Blueline Projects

Client: Private

Status: Built

Open for Business: 2016 - 2023

Traditional Land Owners: Bunurong/Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation

Legal: Copyright and Moral Rights Reserved under The Architects Act 1991 by The Architect Steven Chu. All imagery shown on this website is Copyright, All Rights Reserved, and produced by Artefact Architects, unless otherwise noted.

112 plants, 16 co-workers, 7 years, 1 community.