Microvillages
Microvillages are a community of homes that cater for all ages from birth to death. They provide a setting for small children and the elderly to interact and support each other and allow for aging in a safe and connected environment. Comprised of Living Pods, Green Rooms and Naturescapes. They are interconnected with community and personal gardens and they are designed with high performance, thermally efficient building envelopes. They provide their own electricity and collect, store, distribute and recycle water. They are an approach to a lifetime of living, and are regenerative in intent for the people who live there, for visitors, and for the environment and habitat in which they are located.
Related Media: Stellulata Co-housing project in Ainslie moves forward as ACT government amends Territory Plan
Watson Microvillage Demonstrate Concept Models




Rural Micro Village




Social cohesion and fabric of cross-generational village life
Heart at the Centre: Social space
• Community play, gardens, working in nature, preparing food and dining as a community
• Natural landscape
Embrace the Heart: Family Habitat
• Perimeter living pods and clusters to cater for the diversity of family types and across all generations
Peripheral Services: Storage and Connection to the next Village
• Places for the utility, vehicles and supports networks
Happiness and Meaning
Peace, Love and Joy
- Simple life in the outdoors, always active and in the garden, joy in nature, forest bathing
- Approaching life with joy, cherish each new day
- Treat everyone like a brother or sister even if you have never met them before
- Be part of a community and nurture friendships
- Practice teamwork, help one another
- Balance life with rest and activity

Self
- What is Happiness
- What is Meaning
- Developing Consciousness
- Becoming aware of the cycle of life
- From self and unconscious hedonism to social awareness and consciousness about our role in society
- Express our gifts, our art through creativity (or what some call “work”)
Work
- Working from the Heart not the Head,
- Connecting with people through their needs and their level of consciousness,
- Villages: Working to create Social structure and manifesting village and community in each project,
- Naturescapes: Providing opportunity to connect with nature and increase natural health
People’s Needs throughout Life
Who are we and how do we change and our needs change throughout our life?
- Infant: Accept love
- Child: Push boundaries
- Adolescent: Explore the world
- Young Adult: Find a partner
- Adult: Create a family
- Mature Adult: Consolidate extended family
- Senior: Support the young and celebrate life
- Elderly: Provide wisdom to the young and prepare for life passing, sharing life stories
See other Microvillages related News here
Habitats for Life TedxTalk: Regenerative Microvillages
As the year 2022 comes to a close, Director Paul Barnett’s Tedx Canberra Talk has reached over 1k views! In the talk, he proposes a more sustainable way to design our homes through Living Pod Designs, and a way for design to enhance communities through Regenerative Microvillages.
Read More Habitats for Life TedxTalk: Regenerative Microvillages
Affordable Living Pod Housing in Regenerative Villages
Director Paul has been providing advice to the Watson community regarding affordable Living Pod housing in regenerative villages in support of their negotiation with the government on the development of Section 76. They have included a Cohousing site, and these developments are very closely aligned with Director Paul’s beliefs.
Read More Affordable Living Pod Housing in Regenerative Villages
Living Pods Demonstration Housing
Living Pod, Housing, and Residential enquiries have been through the roof this past year because of the huge demand for homes that meet the needs of all different people after this Covid Pandemic
International Architectural Internship in Australia
Students were granted a scholarship opportunity from the Taiwan Department of Education to travel to Australia for an Architectural internship with Associate Professor Paul Barnett.
Read More International Architectural Internship in Australia
Watson Community Village
Watson Community Association invited Paul Barnett to share his ideas on a sustainable village design for section 76 in Watson. He brought together…
National Sustainability in Business Conference
Paul Barnett was invited as a guest speaker to talk about the Living Pods concept at the 2018 National Sustainability in Business Conference in Brisbane.
TEDx Canberra Adventure-Living Pods for Expanded Families
Paul Barnett shares his alternate way of housing through Living Pods at the TEDx Canberra Adventure- Open Mic Night.
Read More TEDx Canberra Adventure-Living Pods for Expanded Families
Liveable Cities Conference
Paul Barnett attended the Healthy Cities 9th Making Cities Liveable Conference as a speaker to talk about Living Pods and Natural Waterharvested Landscapes.
Habitats for Life: Sustainable Micro Villages I TEDx Canberra
Why do we live the way we do? In this talk, architect Paul Barnett challenges us to look at why we live in the kinds of houses we do, and proposes a more…
Read More Habitats for Life: Sustainable Micro Villages I TEDx Canberra