Good housing should look like good housing.

Today is World Architecture Day, and this year's theme from the International Union of Architects is "Housing is a Human Right. Build It." At Cumulus Studio, this sits close to the work we do.

To mark the day, we asked some of our team what "social housing done well" looks like to them. Their answers overlapped more than we expected.

It should look like any other good housing

Several of us started here. Rosalyn put it plainly: "It shouldn't stick out like a bright coloured thumb and it shouldn't be a stripped back poor cousin version of anything either."

Ben, another of our architects, describes what to aim for instead: "Successful social housing should look like any other form of good housing; inviting, contextually responsive, and like it has been designed with a loving hand."

In practice that means natural light, ventilation, privacy, thermal comfort, outdoor space and durable materials. Good design here is about working creatively within constraints.

It belongs in the community

Isolation came up in every answer. Housing built apart from everything else makes things harder for the people living in it.

"Social housing should be understood as housing that forms part of a healthy and diverse community, rather than something separate from it."
- Ben

Anyone might need it

Tim, one of our Studio Associates, reminded us that people who need this housing are not one type of person or family: "People's circumstances change, and there are many different reasons someone may need access to social housing."

What architecture can and can't do

Design has a real part to play. We can advocate for quality, for safe and healthy homes and for the people who will live in them. Housing affordability, support services, tenancy management and policy sit outside what we control.

"We need to acknowledge that social housing isn't just the responsibility of architecture alone and that we all have a stake in good social housing outcomes."
- Tim

We'll keep designing social housing with care.