5×4 Hayes Lane Project, Australia

The 5×4 Project is to be built on a 5m x 4m site, which is currently occupied by an 80-year old lean-to shed. It is located at the end of a laneway with limited access. The site presents an opportunity to build up to 3 levels with rooftop garden and city views. The site is located in the inner city typology of East Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.

The developers vision is to transform an underused and disregarded laneway into a demonstration project of how to build and operate a sustainable, high rise dwelling through high quality, innovative and practical design. The 5×4 Project aims to challenge Melbourne’s construction and development industry by:

  • achieving a high level of positive social interaction, between residents and the surrounding community;
  • maximising the ecologically performance of the dwelling;
  • combining different materials and processes to achieve the smallest ecological footprint;
  • enabling a quality of life that meets the One Planet Living principles;
  • enabling the dwelling to operate in a carbon neutral manner; and
  • to carry this out using commercially available technology and strategies.

The 5X4 Project is intended to be a transparent project such that the public can witness the progress, the design development and final outcome through education portals via the internet and through public seminars and events. The learning’s from the project will be disseminated to the public and the construction industry through media events and publications.

5×4 Project is a unique project that will demonstrate and encourage debate around sustainable living, a healthy form of densification in the city of Melbourne and how to achieve it through best practice design and living. It will be using the One Planet principles as its guide for the physical design of the project, adaptation around behaviour to reduce ecological footprints in a city and act as a platform to disseminate progress and learning’s from the process. It is envisioned that the 5X4 Project will the first of its kind in Australia for:

  • Application of the One Planet Living principles for a single, micro dwelling in Australia
  • The construction of a small foot print, 3 storey timber structure from a prefabrication processes
  • The design of a super energy efficient and net zero carbon emissions dwelling in the heart of the City of Melbourne

For more information, please contact Ed Cotter, BioRegional Australia