Aboriginal Housing Victoria | Breathe

Aboriginal Housing Victoria (AHV) , a community led organisation managing over 1,500 rental properties for Aboriginal and Torres Strait people in Victoria, embodies the strength and resilience of First Nations People. This strength exists despite inadequate access to affordable and appropriate housing. An issue which is complex and multifaceted, rooted in dispossession and dislocation, one that requires action beyond architecture alone.

Recognising the need to significantly increase the amount of available housing stock, AHV engaged Breathe to design their first multi residential social housing project.

A guide throughout this process, AHV tasked Breathe with challenging the traditional typology of single dwellings; recognising its social and sustainability limitations in an urban context. The brief was, instead, to design a sustainable and culturally sensitive three storey multi residential development in the heart of Reservoir. A development that would serve the large First Nations population in the area and offer them a medium density community focused home.