Bold ideas, innovation, sustainability, affordable housing, promotion of the arts and community all come together in the recently-completed Sustainable Housing for Artists and Creatives (SHAC) project in White Gum Valley.
Located in LandCorp’s WGV estate just 3km from Fremantle’s city centre, the ground-breaking multi-residential project provides affordable housing for artists and creatives who were being forced to leave the cultural and artistic hub of Fremantle due to the skyrocketing property market. WGV is the first project in WA and only 11th in the world to receive international endorsement as a One Planet Community, setting new standards for sustainable development in WA.
SHAC gives artists the opportunity to further their artistic practice and encourages local artists to live and work in the area. It’s the dream of the artists themselves and is the first new cooperative housing to be built in WA in 15 years.
Sustainability in this project not only refers to the solar passive design and the Landcorp and Australian Renewable Energy Authority-funded 20Kw solar and battery array, which provides affordable energy to all tenants; it refers to the ability of artists to sustain themselves, their practice and their families, and to contribute to the social good of the wider community. It also refers to sustaining the artistic heritage and creative identity of Fremantle.
The project was officially opened in early August, less than three years after affordable housing provider Access Housing jumped on board with SHAC to construct the 12 apartments and two-storey shared artist studio and community arts hub space. SHAC worked closely with Access Housing, moving through the process of appointing architects Donaldson and Warn and working with them to realise the group’s aspirations for the development.
Sustainability in this project not only refers to the solar passive design and the Landcorp and Australian Renewable Energy Authority-funded 20Kw solar and battery array, which provides affordable energy to all tenants; it refers to the ability of artists to sustain themselves, their practice and their families, and to contribute to the social good of the wider community. It also refers to sustaining the artistic heritage and creative identity of Fremantle.
Multi-residential developments are usually conceived as products targeting a segment of the market but no specific user. A key difference with the SHAC project is that the development had an end user from its inception.
SHAC members are delighted with the light, airy and beautiful spaces they have moved into and aim to inspire and engage the local community in the arts through the community hub space and art studios.
“Since the early stages of the design process it was very clear that we were not being briefed by a client following market trends, but a group of artists with a rich variety of backgrounds, needs and aspirations based around the aspects of identity, affordability, community, place-making and arts practices,” explains Donaldson and Warn director Daniel Aisenson.
“These topics would not only become a conceptual framework for the project, but also led us to develop the project as a flexible ‘framework’ itself. A framework which could accommodate different dwelling types, serve as a spatial canvas for artists to create and display their work, provide opportunities for the collective use of space, and respond to site topography, environmental conditions and to the Fremantle identity.”
SHAC members are delighted with the light, airy and beautiful spaces they have moved into and aim to inspire and engage the local community in the arts through the community hub space and art studios.
“There has been an exciting buzz in the area with locals dropping around and stopping artists in the street to talk about the project,” says SHAC member Clare Detchon.
The SHAC project not only represents an innovative response to the issue of affordability in the metropolitan area, but also an alternative approach to the retention of cultural and social capital within Fremantle.