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Bill Browning collaborated with Lend Lease, MIRVAC, Ecos Corporation, Pacific Power, New South Wales Sustainable Energy Development Authority, and Manidis Roberts on the winning bid to establish a New Urbanist community initially built to accommodate athletes from around the world during the 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Developed at the site of a former naval munitions depot, the Athletes’ Village was designed to facilitate extensive ecological restoration of the native Eucalyptus Savannah and protection of the adjacent Parramatta River and Homebush Bay. Environmental benchmarks reduced potable water and energy use for homes by 50%, and specified that all major building materials and systems undergo Life Cycle Analysis to determine their net resource use. Partnering with a regional utility provider and SEDA, the development team was able to equip 750 homes with roof-integrated solar photovoltaic arrays – a project which created the largest distributed renewable energy system at the time. Following the Olympic Games, homes in this mixed-use neighborhood sold at a premium.

*Work performed by Bill Browning in affiliation with Rocky Mountain Institute.

Aerial Image. Copyright Simon_sees/Flickr.

Feature Image. Copyright Peter Konnecke/Flickr.