A New Assemblage – LiveWorkShare House by Bligh Graham Architects

Conceived as a prototype for flexible and sustainable housing, LiveWorkShare House by Bligh Graham Architects offers creative, long-term solutions to combat suburb densification.

Occupying a 600-square-metre site in the semi-rural Samford Village in Brisbane’s north-west, LiveWorkShare House is comprised of a home, small commercial office and an additional self-contained flat. The project is an adaptable contribution to the leafy streetscape, accommodating the personal and professional lives of Bligh Graham Architects while offering suitable housing to under-serviced demographics in the area – such as the current tenant, a single mother.

LiveWorkShare House can permute in various ways to accommodate the changing needs of its residential and commercial tenants, presenting a sustainable case study for housing options with co-habiting workplaces.

The footprint is arranged around a central courtyard with a series of rooms that are further separated by smaller courtyards and independent entries. Courtyards typically negate the opportunity to embrace street frontage, but the placement of each element of LiveWorkShare House offers clever gestures of connection. Residents and tenants can experience the amenity of its conceptual tropical identity by following a permeable passage through the site, from one street to the next, towards the adjacent creek and bush reserve.

The articulated pavilions and top-hung shutters continue LiveWorkShare House’s passive thermal performance as intended by enabling ample shade, ventilation and respite from heat, glare and rain. These features and abundant landscaping operate in other practical ways to create inner oases and blur the line between public and private. Layered gardens frame generous views and foster moments of gathering as much as moments of retreat through the interlinked courtyards.

Bligh Graham Architects’s progressive contribution to a suburban typology ensures long-term relevance. LiveWorkShare House can permute in various ways to accommodate the changing needs of its residential and commercial tenants, presenting a sustainable case study for housing options with co-habiting workplaces.