The National Capital Development Commission exhibited the six experimental modular houses as part of a push towards alternative housing construction in the 1970s.
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The Kambah homes were exhibited for public display in May 1975 and then were allocated to public housing tenants.
A brochure from the time about the new houses says the homes have clear contemporary lines with flat roofs and floor to ceiling windows, white walls and in contrast, brightly coloured front doors.
The design of the houses ensures that they will be cool in summer and in winter, once heated, will retain warmth because of their insulated walls and ceilings.
The construction notes that the walls are factory produced in modular panels (1200 millimetres by 2400 millimetres) with polystyrene cores and asbestos cement facings.
Ceiling panels are of the same sandwich construction.
“The commission aims to encourage a variety of system-built housing techniques in Canberra for both government and private housing,” it says.
The Canberra Times reported that the commission would evaluate the housing over the coming months and hoped they would encourage introduction of alternative construction methods for housing in Canberra.
An ACT government spokeswoman confirmed the government was aware of the homes which were built as part of the NCDC Government Housing Construction Program in the 1970s.
She said the government was aware of similar homes in Charnwood.
Reports in The Canberra Times from the 1970s confirm that about 14 houses were built in the Belconnen suburb with asbestos-cement on the outside walls only.
There were another 10 experimental homes built in Macgregor using timber and asbestos-cement in place of brick for a “large proportion of the exterior walls”.
The article noted that the commission did not plan to build any more asbestos-cement houses in the immediate future because brick-veneer was more satisfactory.