Australia’s multicultural diversity is transforming home design around the country, with changes in architecture, style and functionality.
One builder from Better Built Homes, Jeff Dennis, said there has been noticeable developments to meet the specific requirements of individual families that come from different backgrounds.
“We have always been prepared to make changes to our existing home designs because no two families are exactly the same and it provides a certain amount of individuality,” Mr Dennis said.
In some cultures, living with extended family and intergenerational living is popular.
Mr Dennis said there has been more interest in building in-law accommodation wings to fit this criteria.
“In-law accommodation has become popular for extended families. Better Built Homes can also build the increasingly popular granny flats as part of a new home construction project.
“We continually research new building products and construction techniques that allow more design flexibility and efficiency to deliver the best possible home designs to our clients,” Mr Dennis said.
The Better Built Homes builder also said that they are seeing more requests to build homes with rooms, serving a variety of different cultural needs.
“Now we are also receiving requests for prayer rooms to be incorporated into the design.
“We can also design a Yoga ashram into the home if necessary,” Jeff Dennis said.
He said another aspect, which might be influencing changes in home design may be due to a higher rate of divorced families.
“We recently drafted a design for a family where the husband had married again and had two young daughters to accommodate. He also wanted a separate retreat for his older son from the previous marriage,” Mr Dennis said.
Mr Dennis said one trend that he expects to pick up is for an increase in home offices.
“I think functional home offices will become even more popular for homes of the future with rapid advances in technology and the desire to escape the daily traffic,” Mr Dennis said.