'And we need lots of storage. For all our stuff.' Typically concluding the shopping list of rooms of the residential architect's brief, cupboards and storerooms are the go-to feature. The result is a contributing factor to new Australian houses being, notoriously, the world's largest. Yay, us! While architects bemoan the low-density undesigned sprawl of outer suburbia, the inner-ring suburbs, which remain the residential architect's bread and butter, are where we must take responsibility. It is here in the archiporn world of home magazines and Instagram likes, that our large and pretty houses are championed. All too often these houses are the result of architects pandering to aspirational clients with inflated and uninformed briefs. And so our suburbs are loaded with blinged-up trophy homes with single-use spaces like rumpus rooms and home theatres, and ensuites for everyone. Notwithstanding that they may have a rainwater tank and a few solar panels on the roof. We have - and continue to design - houses with a huge amount of embodied energy in materials. Houses with high heating and cooling energy loads. And houses with heavy maintenance requirements demanding to be filled with stuff.
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