Affordable Housing

About the work

A commentary piece on the Melbourne property market and the financial structures that have come to outweigh the physical act of building. Affordable Housing begins with a single acrylic cube, 45 × 45 × 45mm, filled with the core elements a house is made of - dirt, concrete and brick - in proportions drawn from a standard Melbourne suburban block (proportions and methodology below). The scaled material value is $5.74. 

Brick dust (3/10): 27,337.5mm³ = 0.027338L. Total brick volume: 0.027338L vs 19,200L. Scale 1:702,332 → $1.42
Concrete (2/10): 18,225mm³ = 0.018225L. Slab footprint: 0.002025m² × 0.2 = 0.000405m² vs 160m². Scale 1:395,062 → $2.40
Dirt (5/10): 45,562.5mm³ = 0.045563L. Land footprint: 0.002025m² × 0.5 = 0.0010125m² vs 500m². Scale 1:493,827 → $1.92

The labour required to build a house is not represented in this work. There is no material form it could take inside the cube - it was expended, and it is gone.

The piece sells for $190 - which represents 20% on a scaled price of $950, in turn mirroring the current Melbourne median 3-bedroom house of $950,000. Accompanying the work is a voluntary patronage ("mortgage") schedule of $4.56 per month over 30 years. Non-binding, unenforceable, and structured as a standard residential mortgage.

"Everyone understands the concept of a mortgage. Almost no one can afford one. That gap is this piece." - Adam Noakes

Dimensions

Backboard; Width (280 mm) -  Height (355 mm) - Depth w/ cube (48 mm)

Cube; Width (45 mm) -  Height (45 mm) - Depth (45 mm)

Weight; Lightweight - suitable for standard picture hooks < 1 kg

Materials

Plywood backboard; black spray paint; zinc screw; superglue; acrylic cube; garden top soil from a Melbourne plot; cement powder; red brick dust/pieces.