Architecture

Current immigration strategies in Australia often polarise and impede integration. This scheme explored a prototype for an alternative approach to transitioning refugees holding Bridging Visas while awaiting protection claim outcomes. Located in Carlton, a diverse inner Melbourne suburb, the proposal strives to support integration and transition through program mixing and intensification. This is developed through the blending of immigrant and local populations in a micro melting pot of differing services.

This strategy provides transitional accommodation as well as medical, educational and support services. Recreation facilities such as pools, sporting courts and playgrounds will draw in the local community of Carlton, while specific programs such as restaurants and galleries exhibiting transitioning cultures will appeal to the wider Melbourne community. A wide variety of amenities allows for varying levels of integration; from multiple populations united by a single activity, to interstitial spaces of interaction created by flow of movement between activities.