The Brief
Victoria is facing a housing crisis that demands more homes, delivered faster, without lowering the standard of what gets built. The Mid-Rise Code (Clause 57) responds to this by introducing a deemed-to-comply planning pathway for 4–6 storey apartment buildings. Proposals that meet 20 design controls can access streamlined approvals – reducing delays and giving certainty to applicants, councils and communities.
The Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) needed a companion document to the Code: a Design Guide that would unpack the controls, show how to apply them well, and make clear that compliance and quality design aren’t in tension. The challenge was producing guidance that worked for a broad audience – architects, planners, builders, council assessors and community members – without diluting the technical content or diminishing the design ambition.
Our Response
Fieldwork contributed to the design guidelines that sit alongside the Code, including diagrams and built-project exemplars across four sections: site design, urban interface, building design, and dwelling design. The work translates each control into practical guidance. Showing what is required, and how to meet it in ways that actively improve liveability.
The diagrams highlight design details that get decided early and are hard to undo later: building depths and orientation for daylight and cross-ventilation, light/shadowing between neighbouring sites, vehicle access that doesn’t take over the street, balcony depths tuned to the sun’s angle, and circulation layouts that reduce noise transfer between dwellings. Local and international precedents sit alongside the diagrams to show what the techniques look like once built.
The guidance highlights nuance, showing different ways to meet the same outcome, and makes the case that the controls are a floor, not a ceiling.
Mid-Rise Design Guide
Design guidance on behalf of the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning
The Brief
Victoria is facing a housing crisis that demands more homes, delivered faster, without lowering the standard of what gets built. The Mid-Rise Code (Clause 57) responds to this by introducing a deemed-to-comply planning pathway for 4–6 storey apartment buildings. Proposals that meet 20 design controls can access streamlined approvals – reducing delays and giving certainty to applicants, councils and communities.
The Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) needed a companion document to the Code: a Design Guide that would unpack the controls, show how to apply them well, and make clear that compliance and quality design aren’t in tension. The challenge was producing guidance that worked for a broad audience – architects, planners, builders, council assessors and community members – without diluting the technical content or diminishing the design ambition.
Our Response
Fieldwork contributed to the design guidelines that sit alongside the Code, including diagrams and built-project exemplars across four sections: site design, urban interface, building design, and dwelling design. The work translates each control into practical guidance. Showing what is required, and how to meet it in ways that actively improve liveability.
The diagrams highlight design details that get decided early and are hard to undo later: building depths and orientation for daylight and cross-ventilation, light/shadowing between neighbouring sites, vehicle access that doesn’t take over the street, balcony depths tuned to the sun’s angle, and circulation layouts that reduce noise transfer between dwellings. Local and international precedents sit alongside the diagrams to show what the techniques look like once built.
The guidance highlights nuance, showing different ways to meet the same outcome, and makes the case that the controls are a floor, not a ceiling.
Link: Mid-Rise Design Guide
(planning.vic.gov.au)
Published
16.04.2025