These projects explore issues relating to affordable housing and key environmental objectives of small scale, material re-use, possible fireproofing through the use of a solid steel structure, and the desire to build a dwelling from an ‘additive’ gleaner sculptural approach. The name of the work relates to the Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng’s who said “The body is an inn” and video documentation of the work includes a visit to his temple in Southern China as part of an Australia-China residency in 2005.
This work was also inspired by the life work of John Archer, co-founder of the Owner Builder magazine, who encouraged different approaches to the project. John’s work was featured in a solo show held at Loose Projects in Sydney 2006, which incorporated his publications on vernacular architecture and environmentalism, his own artworks, and a documentary made of his housebuilding work in the 1980s with Indigenous people in remote communities recovering from petrol-sniffing. His interview is below: (coming soon)

A related issue is the rising problem of homelessness in Western Sydney. I wrote a short advocacy and lobbying report to support the 2011 research of Bankstown Creating Links Cooperative to highlight the alarming levels of homelessness within the government area that would not be alleviated by the housing planned in the NSW Government Metropolitan Strategy. DOWNLOAD article
Temporary refuge project 1 (2008) Re-used material affordable housing project made for under $15,000, western Sydney
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Temporary refuge project 2 (2009 – ) First Blue Mountains City Council Development Application approved house design incorporating a train carriage. north Katoomba, western Sydney
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