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The Australian dream has evolved, and it no longer features a sprawling home on a quarter acre block in the suburbs. Apartments now account for 25% of residential properties in Australia and that number is set to rise over the next decade. But the future of apartments is far from the small box-like dwellings with low popcorn ceilings of the 1980s. And as the design and architecture becomes more sophisticated, the target market is shifting from primarily young couples and uni students to empty nesters, families and people who are ready to take a step back from office life.

Shifting Values

So, what has changed? The evolution of the workforce has had a definite impact. Technological advancements and a growing push for flexible working conditions have people are questioning whether they want to sit in front of a desk five days a week from their early 20s until their 60s or 70s. This mental shift has seen a rise in part-time work, dubbed the “gig economy”, and a growing number of people who are looking to join the Financial Independence, Retire Early or FIRE movement. They are exploring ways to work beach-side, fit office hours around when the kids are at school, or ease into semi-retirement early to make more space for leisure activities or spend more time with their grandchildren.

This shifting mindset inevitably translates into other areas of life, like where you choose to live, how you decorate your home and how you allocate your spare time. In an era where minimalism and Marie Kondo reign supreme, apartment living gives people the flexibility to live in a desirable location with minimal maintenance and easy access to restaurants, culture and healthcare facilities. They can spend their weekends creating special moments with loved ones rather than mowing the lawn and doing home repairs. They can carve out space to stroll by the water and connect to nature.

With lifestyle becoming a priority over maximising earnings, why spend $3-4 million on a Sydney home when you could cut down on traffic time and air pollution with a luxury apartment in Terrigal? Why maintain a large sprawling family house when you could downsize your home and improve your lifestyle?

The Future of Apartment Living

Our changing values are leading to a new generation of apartment buyers, who have a different set of criteria to those who came before. While the focus in the last decade has been primarily around creating apartment buildings for the investor, forward-thinking developers are applying human-centric design principles to create vertical communities with owner-occupiers in mind.

These apartments of the future are being built with careful consideration around daylight, ventilation and noise prevention. Spacious outdoor areas are still valued and can be integrated in the form of rooftop terraces, large footprint balconies and grassed courtyards which offer a lower maintenance alternative to the traditional backyard, while still allowing residents to keep their beloved family pet. The internal footprint is also crucial, with purchasers looking for space to host Christmas lunch with extended family or have friends come to stay for the weekend.

Choosing the right location continues to be a critical piece of the puzzle, with apartment dwellers of the future adopting a more European lifestyle through use of the outdoors and public space as an extension of their home. Proximity to beaches, national parks, cafes and the arts ensure that people can prioritise experiences over consumerism and move into a highly enjoyable daily rhythm within their local community.

The future of apartment living will create homes that elevate the daily routines of their occupants and deliver an enviable lifestyle.

Book a site tour at Sé on Terrigal and discover a new approach to coastal living.

With human-centric design at the forefront of emerging home and city discussions, we are seeing exciting initiatives arising to deliver a higher quality of life, improve environmental impact, inclusion and equality, and efficiency gains.

As the Australian population grows, housing has evolved away from sprawling lots with huge backyards towards higher density city living. This is overlayed with the increasingly unaffordable inner-city prices and a trend towards prioritising lifestyle and family over time spent in the car or on public transport. With Sydney’s inner suburbs calling for purchasers to invest in upwards of $2-3 million to secure a small home with minimal living space, people are realising that they can achieve a higher standard of living by turning their attention to beachside havens, such as Terrigal on the Central Coast.

The challenges now lie with town planners, governments, local councils and communities to look at how they can create initiatives to ensure that our towns adapt to the changing environment. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to creating a human-centric town. It should be an extension of its inhabitants, seamlessly meeting their needs and enhancing their lifestyle. Such a town should understand the citizens of that area and their needs.

The best human centric cities consider these things:

Access to Nature

The ability to connect with nature is essential to our mental health and wellbeing. In inner cities, people are working to carve out green space in the form of indoor plants, community gardens and nature strip vegetable patches.

But for many, this isn’t enough, hence the ongoing trend for people to move away from capital cities and towards coastal towns. In a regional area, people can afford to buy closer to the water and in many areas also have easy access to national parks. The accessibility and usability are far better in Terrigal or Avoca in NSW’s Central Coast than in Bondi or Manly, and local coworking spaces allow people to work remotely, commuting to Sydney only when strictly necessary.

Local businesses and services

Smart businesses are looking at how they can deliver seamless customer experiences. The recent Rotary Park upgrade in Terrigal is an excellent example of how understanding the way the locals live can lead to thoughtful development.
The playground is a fenced space, making it a safer environment for children to run around and explore. Parents and grandparents can get a single origin coffee and healthy meal from the small kiosk within the area, and picnic blankets are available to spread out on the grass. The kiosk will even deliver food, coffee and picnic rug to your car if bub is sleeping or if you are road tripping with no time to stop. This business model provides a seamless and enjoyable experience for the whole family.

Bike Paths and Walking Tracks

Neighbourhoods, where you can ditch the car, are healthier and encourage more walking and bike riding. Taking a human-centric approach to town planning considers both recreational and daily commuting walking and cycling paths enable more physical lifestyles rather than sedentary commutes sitting behind the steering wheel.

To ensure that the paths are safe and easy to navigate, good lighting is critical. A smart city initiative in Cairns is implementing Integrated Multifunctional Smart Lampposts which use LED technology with sensors to avoid wasted energy and minimise impact to local animals and their environment. They also include CCTV cameras, an emergency button, sensors to measure air quality and public WiFi.

The key to a seamless city living is to combine advances in technology with human-centric thinking, to ensure that our “smart cities” integrate cohesively with our lifestyle. 

Reimagine your life and discover luxury redefined at Se on Terrigal. Download the brochure below to learn more.

Australian’s are well versed in the benefits of living near the beach, with an estimated 85% living within 50km of the coast. It is a trend that is set to continue, as evidenced by Terrigal’s growing popularity for Sydney-siders looking to find their piece of waterfront paradise, away from the crowded beaches of Bondi and Coogee. So why are we so drawn to the ocean? We take a look at the science behind Terrigal’s attraction.

Nostalgia

Most of us hold fond memories of packing the family car to the rafters and heading off up the coast to pitch a tent in a caravan park near the beach. The early morning dashes into the fresh sea spray, the simple pleasures of a cold, sweet ice-cream that drips down your wrist and the adventures scrambling over the rocks and hunting for the perfect shell.

Paddling in the Terrigal rock pool with water lapping around your knees, you can almost imagine you were back in the days of your childhood. The calm, shallow pool summons you to splash about with your children or grandchildren and the pristine waves along the beach and at Terrigal Haven draw families from right across the state.

Better Sleep Patterns

Do you feel as though you sleep better when near the ocean? It isn’t your imagination. The fresh, clean air contains higher levels of oxygen which can aid in a restful night’s sleep. The soft repetitive sounds of the ocean can also be very soothing, with clinical psychologist Richard Shuster, PsyD, explaining “staring at the ocean actually changes our brain waves’ frequency and puts us into a mild meditative state.”

Mental and Physical Health

The ocean has a profound impact on our mental wellbeing. Some scientists attribute this to the space that being near the water gives us. Most of us experience sensory overload for much of the day, and our brain is overwhelmed with processing all of the sights, sounds, and smells that it encounters. Being near the water gives you a sense of peace and stillness that is hard to replicate elsewhere.

This sense of tranquillity has also been found to help your physical energy levels, helping you to exercise for longer. Scientists attribute this to a better mental focus and reduced strain from external stimulation. This means that you can extend your barefoot stroll along the sand and then meander along the walkway towards Broken Head. If you are feeling particularly energetic, the view from the Skillion after tackling the steep climb is spectacular.

Minerals in the Sea Water

As well as being an excellent form of exercise, swimming has been linked to decreased anxiety and depression. Swimming in seawater has a host of additional benefits. The iodine, magnesium and potassium found in sea water can help the body to heal, detoxify and fight infection. There is an array of other water activities to try as well, like surfing lessons, stand-up paddling on the lagoon, kayaking or snorkelling.

If you needed another excuse to head to the beach or surrender to the call of the coast– consider it an investment in your health!

Forge ahead with your life in coastal luxury at Se on Terrigal. Download the brochure below to learn more.

Architecture has evolved dramatically through the decades, from the art deco styling of the 1920s, the functional efficiency of the modernist 1950s to the minimalist era through the 1990s. Today, forward-thinking designers, engineers and architects are looking to revolutionalise the industry by taking a user focused approach.

Human-centric design goes beyond the eye-catching aesthetics and examines the daily habits, rituals, and social interactions of the inhabitants. While beauty is still essential, it is less about impressing people who enter your home and more about cultivating ease and simplicity in everyday life. The goal is to create synergy between your natural movements and the layout of your house or apartment.

Immersion

The first step to creating a truly intuitive and user-centric home design is to gain a deep understanding of the person who will live there. Whereas traditional housing design begins with a set of perimeters – 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a 900mm oven – human-centric design takes an altogether different approach. It examines the way you move through the house and the way you interact socially. What time do you like to get up in the morning? Do you spend your evenings watching television or chatting over a glass of wine? How do you entertain? How do you use your car?

Ideation

Once the designer has a thorough understanding of the client’s way of life, the next step is to consider how the building can enhance the person’s psychological, physiological and physical well-being.

The windows, skylights and overhead lighting are carefully positioned to embrace the natural light throughout the day and to enhance your sleeping patterns at night. The temperature is optimised to provide a comfortable environment at all times, and the layout is designed to create intimate and personal zones as well as tailor-made social areas. The inhabitants who will entertain frequently will have different requirements to the couple who prioritise having frequent visits from family and young grandchildren.

From the intuitive placement of light switches, so you never have to fumble to find the button, to keyless entry and automatic shutters, each element is chosen to enhance the homeowner’s life.

Implementation

It is becoming a standard feature in new homes in Australia to include technology such as Alexa room awareness. The human-centric approach is different because it aims to integrate technology in a way that is so intuitive that you don’t realise that it is there. You no longer have to reach through the water flow to turn on the shower, and your garage door will automatically open when your car pulls in, so you don’t have find your remote or to roll down your window and swipe in when it is raining. The engineering becomes invisible, and all that you notice is how seamlessly everything works. Premium developments on the front foot are beginning to embrace this intuitive mindset and design for native human behaviour.

The consultative human-centric approach delivers a solution that is empathetic to the users’ wants, needs and lifestyle. The future of housing will create a home so intuitive that it knows you better than you know yourself.

Reimagine your life and discover luxury redefined at Se on Terrigal. Download the brochure below to learn more.