{"product_id":"merchant-builders-this-is-not-subtopia","title":"Merchant Builders: This is Not Subtopia!","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMerchant Builders: This is Not Subtopia!\u003c\/strong\u003e is a major study of Merchant Builders, the Melbourne development company whose cluster housing and townhouse prototypes proposed a shared, relational alternative to the private suburban block.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eAbout This Book\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFounded in 1965, Merchant Builders set out to rethink what the Australian suburb could be. Rather than treating each house as a sealed private domain, its cluster housing and townhouse schemes were organised around the spaces between dwellings—pergolas, verandahs and sunscreens that became settings for encounter, neighbourliness and shared amenity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEdited by Philip Goad and Alan Pert, this substantial volume draws on newly uncovered archival material and interviews to reposition these suburban experiments as a serious architectural response to the problems of subdivision. It then carries the argument into the present, connecting the company's legacy to current debates on housing affordability, sustainability and the outward spread of our cities. The result is both history and provocation: a case that the suburbs can still be designed for sharing, ecology and community.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eKey Features\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBuilt on newly uncovered archives and original interviews\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eExamines cluster housing and townhouse prototypes as alternatives to conventional subdivision\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFocuses on the in-between spaces—pergolas, verandahs, sunscreens—that shaped shared suburban life\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLinks a pioneering development model to present-day debates on affordability, sustainability and suburban growth\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat You'll Discover\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHow Merchant Builders reimagined suburbia as relational rather than purely private\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe design devices used to create spaces for encounter and neighbourliness\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhy the company's suburban experiments matter to the history of Australian housing\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhat its legacy offers architects, planners and developers facing today's housing challenges\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eAbout the Editors\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhilip Goad is Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor and Chair of Architecture at the University of Melbourne, and director of the Australian Centre for Architecture. Alan Pert is Professor and Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne, where he teaches curatorial practice and architectural theory; his research centres on housing and suburban design.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFormat: Hardcover\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePages: 656\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLanguage: English\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eISBN: 9780522877984\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePublisher: Melbourne University Publishing\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePerfect For:\u003c\/strong\u003e Architects, planners, developers and housing advocates, and anyone interested in Australian postwar architecture and the future of the suburb.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Melbourne University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50620307505377,"sku":"9780522877984","price":140.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0464\/files\/Merchant_Builders_This_is_Not_Subtopia_cover.jpg?v=1790753315","url":"https:\/\/bookshopbyuro.com\/products\/merchant-builders-this-is-not-subtopia","provider":"Bookshop by Uro","version":"1.0","type":"link"}