So with this brief review of the state of strata organizations, I want to pose some questions for your consideration and input. The assumption motivating these questions is that there is something wrong with the strata act, and something wrong with how it layers onto architecture.

My first question is what physical forms make sense within certain legal patterns?

A leased apartment conveys a sense of temporary accommodation. It seems right, and it is compatible with the kind of vacant, faceless apartment projects that we see all around us. Students and young people generally, creating their lives and uncertain where they are going need temporary accommodation, and the fact that it might be an inferior architectural form is incidental to their growth, which takes place largely away from where they sleep and perhaps only occasionally eat.

People change when they see themselves as owners. They often invest a great deal of their personal wealth in their living space. Moving on is harder, as they must first sell to do so. They see a greater commitment. To me the question immediately arises as to whether it is appropriate to apply this way of thinking to what we all understand to be standard rental apartments.

My second question is about the kind of body that is needed to govern a building. What kind of people rise to strata membership? Could a system of rules take the place of a council and eliminate many of the troubles that strata councils experience?

My third question is about the kind of buildings we are creating. Is the problem here the generic building? All of the advertising that suggests lifestyle seems compelling on the surface, but we all know that it is meaningless. And we also know that the developers will sell to whoever comes through the door with money, regardless of whether they have two heads or appear to be an alien life form. The community generated is inherently random. And the developers go to significant effort to prevent the buyers or potential buyers from actually meeting each other before the building is completed. And in this effort, law is on the developers side, as the developer is the strata until the building is completed and turned over. Could a different approach here change the result?

My fourth question is about whether strata buildings should be rented before they are sold. Should there be a period of a few months or perhaps even years to allow a community to create itself at the lower risk point of renting space before a sale point is reached? How would this work?

My fifth question is about our steady state ideas of human habitation. Do we need to build the fiction that our lives do not move on in our multi unit strata plan buildings? Student housing is best suited to students. What about other types? Is it reasonable or fair to create turnover points, a kind of mandated retirement, for different types of housing and different points in people's lives? Are there other ways of achieving a kind of streaming that will minimize the conflict that takes place when people at different points in their lives live together?

My sixth question is about the way we partition space. Current strata plans track units. Each apartment or commercial unit is a strata lot. The demising walls are the borders on the strata plan. Why? Would our future ability to deal with space be better served by other styles of organization? The square meter idea…

Versatility is a primary requirement of any substantial building. It is impossible to say what the future will bring, and so it makes sense to design and zone today's buildings for the broadest possible range of potential uses. This makes environmental and economic sense, preserving the value of the structure and the investment of its owners. As an example, the interior partitioning in buildings I design is mostly arbitrary. Walls between units are generally not structural, and can be readily moved or removed, to create different or much larger spaces. What is an appropriate legal unit of space to allow for future changes of use in a strata plan?

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