Renovation
Work the room
Shrinking the footprint and redesigning and rebuilding one part of this simple beachside house improved its layout, comfort and energy efficiency.
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New build
Cottage cathedralette
Reversing the room layout and building on the same footprint as the original cottage were key to achieving a spacious, flexible new home that preserves this Melbourne horticulturalist’s beloved inner-city food garden.
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Renovation
Natural lightbox
With thoughtful passive solar design, ageing terraces can be sensitively revitalised to achieve high levels of sustainability – even if the party wall is along the north side.
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Renovation
Eighties revival
A standard, single-storey brick house in Brisbane sets a precedent for how 1980s housing stock can be renovated to suit a sub-tropical climate.
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House profiles
Back to basics
Good design need not be expensive – as architect Andrew Kerr demonstrates with his Tassie ‘apple crate shack’ built to 7.1 Stars on a $100k budget.
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House profiles
Island off-grid
Fitted with a modern take on punkah fans and the latest in battery tech, an experimental off-grid house on South Stradbroke Island is the result of a dynamic collaboration between architects Tim Bennetton and Gabriel Poole.
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Renovation
Passive resistance
A heritage house in Melbourne’s inner east has collected two major sustainability awards, just as a new report highlights the need for existing houses to be retrofitted to tackle climate change.
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New build
Coastal cliff hanger
Too steep for use as a backyard, the rear of a Central Coast block now hosts a versatile, energy-efficient studio with enviable sea views – thanks to some ingenious engineering solutions.
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New build
Forest friendly
Discover how a surprisingly curvilinear home in Victoria’s Dandenong Ranges achieved a 7.4 Star rating without heavy lifting from thermal mass.
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New build
Rising from the earth
Traditional local materials and an innovative spiral design with a green roof combine to offer a simple, sustainable lifestyle for this tree-changing family in Japan.
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Renovation
About face
This mountain home demonstrates how you can achieve thermal comfort and energy efficiency despite being oriented to the east and unaided by thermal mass.
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