{"id":754142,"date":"2026-06-23T02:43:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T02:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/754142\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T02:43:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T02:43:13","slug":"shand-road-by-ys-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/754142\/","title":{"rendered":"Shand Road by Ys Housing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Should architects be developers? There was an era, or so I have been told, where the architect was the undisputed project lead. Harry Seidler is said to have once remarked, \u201cI\u2019m the architect, I\u2019ll design the house. You keep out of the road. When it\u2019s finished, I\u2019ll give you the key and that\u2019s that.\u201d1 This statement could be viewed as one of arrogance, but control over delivery is indisputable when the traditional client is removed.<\/p>\n

The exclusion of stakeholders at a project\u2019s inception is starting to be understood as a tool for delivering attainable housing. A renewed push for pattern books demonstrates a similar attempt to encourage architects to take the lead in addressing affordability through design. How the market reacts and responds is out of our hands, but fundamentally the approach is the same: if you take this and don\u2019t tinker with it, it can be affordable.<\/p>\n

Ys Housing is an emerging Melbourne-based practice making inroads into architect-led developments. Perhaps some of their confidence is based on the fact that they are a practice of allied disciplines: the firm\u2019s design director Milly Gamlin is an architect, while co-director and development manager Oscar McLennan brings experience in property development and mentoring tech startups. Their team is small, which keeps them agile and allows them to wait for the right sites that suit their priorities.<\/p>\n

\"Hard<\/p>\n

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Shand Road is their first realised project, an infill development in the outer Melbourne suburb of Reservoir that delivers four townhouses in place of what was previously a single dwelling on a mid-sized block. It embodies Ys Housing\u2019s aim to deliver market-rate housing with a higher degree of quality, amenity and architectural consideration.<\/p>\n

With Shand Road, Ys Housing is competing directly with the project home builders of the area. At this scale, few developers \u2013 often acting as the builders themselves \u2013 include a designated architectural team. Gamlin attributes this to the realities of downtime between projects. Yet, by operating both as architect and developer for Shand Road, Ys Housing had complete control and flexibility over budget. The resultant design and construction decisions were largely driven by cost, but remain grounded with a clear design intent.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

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Shand Road is evidence of the firm\u2019s honest architectural approach, with the form a pair of timber-framed gabled structures clad in corrugated steel. The materials are off-the-shelf and direct, with careful detailing producing simply-crafted homes. Internal details are kept pared back, and wet areas are unfussy, evoking a timelessness. The offering is neither driven by trends nor overly individualised, ensuring appeal and flexibility for the unknown purchasers and inhabitants.<\/p>\n

Also of note is the landscape design by Nohla. It is effortlessly natural and low-maintenance in a street of otherwise lawn-covered verges. The pedestrianisation of the driveway is a simple yet considered approach; hard paving is relegated to a single pathway, with an adjacent gravel track accommodating cars. This allows parking to be placed at the centre of the site, giving each dwelling either a generous front or back garden address.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

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Each home is fully electrified. Gamlin notes that it is uncommon for sustainability features such as solar panels to be taken up by developers, as rebate incentives are only directed to consumers. At Shand Road, however, the inclusion of solar power is seen by Ys Housing as part of the value, in that it lowers running costs.<\/p>\n

Shand Road tries to quietly lift the game in what is otherwise a conservative and predictable market. The homes are rich in amenity, grounded in a direct material expression, and underpinned by meaningful agendas of environmental and community sustainability. Compact yet private, with carefully framed individual outlooks, they show the value of architectural thinking in delivering homes with genuine appeal. By prioritising spatial and material quality, Shand Road presents a compelling alternative model for the procurement of, and offering for, the Australian suburban home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Should architects be developers? There was an era, or so I have been told, where the architect was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":754143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134],"class_list":["post-754142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=754142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/754143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=754142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=754142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}