dandenong sda housing 

Specialist Disability Accommodation _ Dandenong VIC. Australia _ Design Stage

Dandenong SDA Housing brings independence, community and everyday life together within a generous, connected residential environment.

Located in central Dandenong, the four-storey mixed-use development combines publicly accessible allied-health facilities at ground level with fifteen High Physical Support SDA apartments and two overnight carers’ apartments above.

The building is organised around northern light, natural ventilation and a sequence of private, semi-private and communal outdoor spaces. Open elevated walkways, integrated planting and rooftop gardens extend daily life beyond the apartment, creating opportunities for connection while maintaining privacy, independence and choice.

The interiors are designed to feel calm, warm and unmistakably residential. Generous circulation and adaptable kitchens, bathrooms and living spaces respond to residents with different levels of mobility and support needs, without allowing accessibility requirements to dominate the character of the home. Material warmth, subtle colour, tactile finishes and abundant natural light give the apartments character from the outset, while allowing residents to personalise them over time.

For many SDA residents, home plays an unusually concentrated role in everyday life. The project therefore extends the idea of home beyond the apartment itself, providing a graduated sequence of private, semi-private and communal spaces. Generous open-air walkways become more than circulation: widened areas create places to pause, sit and meet, functioning almost as verandahs or porches outside individual homes. Together with planting, outlook and shared rooftop spaces, they allow residents to choose when to retreat, when to engage and how they connect with neighbours and the wider community.

At BENT Architecture, we are passionate about creating homes which enable, rather than disable.  This proposed development reinforces this mission and seeks to create a benchmark for environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive Specialised Disability Accommodation that removes the stigma of accessible housing and demonstrates that it's possible to design dignified and uplifting homes for people of all needs.

BENT Team:
Paul Porjazoski, Michael Germano, Lana Blazanin, Alison Hui