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.

Case Study: Living Mountain Lab- International Eco-House Design Competition

Watson Microvillage Demonstrate Concept Models

Rural Micro Village

Microvillage Concept Drawing- ICIMOD Design Competition

Microvillage- Community activity at the heart, place for young and old, and living pods at the perimeter
Waterharvesting in microvillage- creating water arteries in the earth
Village Design in Apartments- apartment floor plan as a microvillage

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

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.

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.