When Sara Hanley bought a "compact house" in North Wright, she wasn't looking for a community.
She was instead attracted to the environmental features of the home, as well the cheap price for the townhouse which, despite sharing walls with its neighbours, is on a single title.
"As a single mum, it's something I didn't really anticipate, but I just feel so safe here, because I know everybody," Ms Hanley said.
Less than a year after the first residents of the 23 townhouses in the North Wright Compact Housing development moved in, there are regular get-togethers, play dates, dog walks, and a WhatsApp group chat to communicate. When one of them goes on holiday, others will put out and bring in their bins.
"I've never really had that anywhere else in Canberra," Ms Hanley said.
The development was built as a demonstration project by the Suburban Land Agency as "landscape-first" missing middle homes.
Selling for between $720,000 and $1 million, the houses are inspired by modernist courtyard typologies, and were designed as environmentally friendly, people-first homes that are integrated into the landscape and encouraged community through shared spaces, including a laneway and micro park.
Architect Nikki Butlin, from Trella Architecture and Interiors, said similar developments in new suburbs tended to end up with a double-car frontage along the street.
"It would be a vehicle-first design outcome, and one of the things that we really wanted to do was crack that open and make that a much more people-led outcome and use that laneway space as this place where people could stop and gather, meet their neighbours and actually become part of a community," Ms Butlin said.
At 95 to 115 square metres, the homes are much smaller than the average Canberra house. Separate titles mean there are no strata management issues, and shared walls have been designed in a way that one house could be demolished and rebuilt without affecting its neighbours.
"We know that each time somebody's family grows or their situation changes, one of the biggest costs is moving to a new home that has a larger footprint," Ms Butlin said.
"The designs were done so that you might be able to add an additional living area or an additional bedroom, and we've planned for that upfront."
The North Wright Compact Houses took home three awards at this year's ACT Architecture Awards, which were held on Saturday, June 13.
The houses won the award for Residential Architecture - Multiple Housing, the Derek Wrigley Award for Sustainable Architecture and the Missing Middle Prize.
Adaptation to suit multigenerational living and ageing in place was a major theme at the awards, as were housing affordability and availability.
Adaptability is becoming increasingly popular in builds, as more Australians move in with family during the housing crisis.
Architect Patrick Kennedy of well-renowned firm Kennedy Nolan, who was recently commissioned by building products company Brickworks to design a new generation of suburban homes which would respond to modern pressures including changing household structures and smaller land blocks, said innovation was essential.
"Innovation in this sector is not just nice to have - it is essential to accommodate changing family groupings, energy use, heat island effects and disconnection from place," Mr Kennedy said.
"We found there are some simple moves which can have a big effect."
Missing middle architecture was also highly valued by the judges at the ACT Architecture Awards, as the government inches closer to introducing new regulations to make the medium-density developments easier to build.
"'The missing middle' is not a residential typology overly familiar to Canberra, but as the population density changes, we are seeing more examples of density done well," jury chair Alex Lawlor said.
"Some of this year's winners are examples of stellar 'missing middle' residential concepts that would look equally at home in other urban areas."
Ms Hanley agreed, and said more developments should be designed in the same way as the North Wright Compact Housing.
"You don't have to opt for an apartment or a townhouse. You can get your own little piece of land, in your own community, for pretty good prices," she said.
