Patrick Kelly, a New Zealand architect working in Naarm Melbourne, Australia, has been awarded the 2024 F. Gordon Wilson Fellowship for Public Housing to undertake research into Bluefields, an urban infill housing model, and how it might transform existing state-housing stock in Aotearoa.

Developed by Australian architectural academic Damian Madigan, Bluefields is a way to densify older, low-rise housing, where the dwellings typically occupy only 20-25 percent of the land. Kelly will research how additional one- and two-bedroomed homes can be added to existing state-owned sections in cities around the country. The additional dwellings will be designed according to the constraints of the site and placed around shared gardens and other communal facilities. The idea is to achieve a greater quantity of smaller homes for social housing, without subdividing land.   

“Bluefield developments offer a way to modify and develop around existing infrastructure to better reflect the current needs of public housing in Aotearoa,” explains Kelly. “With some of the highest construction costs in the world and an increasing demand for public housing, there is an urgent need to rethink possible housing development strategies. This model of development could offer the opportunity to unlock Aotearoa’s public housing potential.