Winter Park cluster housing

Gunn's residential project is described as “an outstanding example of careful design extended into a consideration of the importance of landscape and open space and, ultimately, the presence and feel of a place”.

[1] Winter Park is a carefully planned development in which groups of houses are sited to optimize available land in more efficient and environmentally sensitive method than that provided by the normal rectangular grid lot suburban subdivision.

The central idea was the free sitting of houses, private garden and communal open space to achieve an integration of the built environment within the most efficient use of land.

[3] Winter Park is historically and socially important for its association with Merchant Builders Pty Ltd, one of the most influential building companies in Victoria in the post-war era.

Some of the many innovative design principles and features they pursued included pergolas, exposed brickwork and timber beams, passive solar energy and the use of indigenous materials.