Housing affordability, diversity, and suburbia, Stephen Hicks will address all of these as he presents case studies from David Barr Architects’ recent single and multi-residential projects.

The talk will outline the practice’s interest in housing that responds to the many challenges of contemporary Australian cities, discussing how their work experiments with type, construction and ownership to create affordable homes.

The presentation will also look at the challenge of sympathetically increasing density within Australian suburbs, using the practice’s ‘Gen Y Demonstration Housing’ as a built example of medium density housing that demonstrates ‘stealth density’ and an alternate vision for affordable, flexible infill housing.

Stephen Hicks is a registered architect and an Associate at David Barr Architects, an award winning Perth and Canberra practice known for its innovative affordable and sustainable residential architecture. With a commitment to social engaged architecture, Stephen has expertise in affordable and social housing, homelessness (on which he undertook his master’s thesis) and urbanism. Stephen has taught and lectured in university studios throughout his career, and his written work has been published in local and national publications.