Wurundjeri Country
Nestled in the verdant suburb of Kew, Contour House is a testament to thoughtful design that gracefully navigates its steep terrain. Once a fragmented single-level home from the 1950s, it has been transformed by Zen Architects into a seamless blend of indoor and outdoor living that embraces a linear layout complementing the gentle contours of its surrounding gardens. The façade, adorned in warm, brick-like hues of spotted gum, imbues the house with a sense of earthy sophistication, while its subtle Oriental undertones hint at a deeper narrative of place and culture.
Inside, an expansive two-storey void invites a sense of openness balanced by the grounded essence of darker materials like polished concrete and natural slate. Every room affords singular and generous views of the lush gardens framed by expansive fixed and operable glazing that cultivates a sensorial engagement with nature. Together, architecture, landscape design and interior decoration fluidly converse to shape a living experience deeply entwined with context and the beauty of the natural world.
Builder: Basis Builders
Interiors: Camilla Molders
Landscape: Eckersley Garden Architecture
Photography: Derek Swalwell
Wurundjeri Country
The Victoria Street Collective in Brunswick, Melbourne, is a testament to community-driven design's transformative power. Born from the collective vision of six families and realised through the innovative expertise of Zen Architects, this residential project reimagines urban living by intertwining sustainability with a strong sense of community. Two apricot stucco buildings house ten unique apartments, each thoughtfully designed to maximise space and comfort, with soaring ceilings and versatile layouts. The heart of the development beats in its communal gardens and gathering areas, encouraging connection among residents while fostering an ecosystem of collaboration and support. Additionally, the design pays homage to the surrounding heritage architecture while promoting environmental consciousness by minimising parking, maximising open space, embracing solar energy, and far exceeding current building standards and performance In doing so, the Victoria Street Collective redefines what it means to live in a city and serves as an inspiring blueprint for future residential projects, showcasing how community, sustainability, and innovation can harmoniously coexist.
Builder: Maven
Advisory Co-operative: Property Collectives
Photographer: Tom Ross
Wurundjeri Country
Barry, a Victorian cottage nestled amidst a picturesque streetscape in Northcote in inner-urban Melbourne, has undergone a recent architectural resurrection by Zen Architects that sensitively brings the remnants of the home’s past into future relevance. The dovetailing of period gestures with contemporary design interventions has resulted in a delicate balance between past charm and future functionality.
The architectural reimagining of Barry was not just about updating its passive qualities, but also about redefining its spatial layout to cater to the needs of a modern family where both parents work from home. The innovative approach taken by Zen Architects ensured that the house retained its unique character while incorporating features like a mezzanine office space and a rooftop garden, creating multiple engaging experiences within the home and overt activations between indoors and out.
From insulating walls and refinishing flooring to shaping light-filled living spaces and incorporating splashes of colour to reflect the client's personal style, every element of Barry has been thoughtfully curated to enhance its liveability and aesthetics. Ultimately, light, volume, liveability and delight have become Barry’s touchstones, signals of the home’s new future-proofed iteration and markers of a family home that fosters client’s living patterns while innovatively maximising the potential inherent in its site.
Builder: Natural Build VIC
Photography: Thurston Empson
Wadawurrung Country
Anglesea Passive House by Zen Architects seamlessly mediates between architecture, context, and environment to cultivate a residence in sync with its coastal surrounds.
Shaped by clients with both passive and architectural intentions, the residence has emerged as a reconciliation of both which has shaped a place that is profoundly contextual, integrated gently into the native bushland landscape of Victoria’s Surf Coast.
Navigating the naturally tapering topography, the residence’s design employs a modest 200m2 footprint, allowing for the retention of as much vegetation as was feasible while adhering to a strict BAL 29 bushfire rating.
The facade emulates the tones and linear expressions of the mature trees on the site, featuring vertical timber screening, reclaimed turpentine and ironbark and steel which contribute to its low-carbon design. Inside, the house is bright and luminous, with natural light filtering through the exterior screening to bathe surfaces of tallow wood, cork, steel and concrete, continuing gestures of verticality to instil a sense of cohesive refinement.
The living area and kitchen on the upper level embrace expansive views, creating a connection with the landscape which also serves as an alternative entry point to the ground floor bedrooms, studios and bathroom once the interior stairs prove difficult for a resident in their 90s.
Anglesea Passive House combines functionality, aesthetics, and sustainability to demonstrate the importance of builder/architect collaboration in realising homes deeply in tune with all the rituals of living unique to inhabitants, homes that rest lightly upon the ecosystems they rest within and those able to intuitively balance striking aesthetics alongside a sensitivity to their built and natural surroundings.
Builder: Aphi Projects
Photography: Derek Swalwell
Bunurong Country
Nestled within F.G Tricks Reserve, Fern Street Children’s Centre by Zen Architects embraces context, spatial generosity and permeability as its pillars of design. Defined by a softy curved fence line that meanders through the parkland, Fern Street contains a two-room Kindergarten, Maternal & Child Health Centre, and Multi-purpose Community Room.
Taking cues from the surrounding park, Fern Street’s elevated, single-storey form is uniformly clad in rough-sawn timber applied in vertical striations extending upwards from generous front and rear decks. The material treatment, stained in subtle pinks and greys to mirror the bark of the surrounding gum trees, continues up and over outdoor seating, giving legibility to different zones while establishing visual cohesion.
Inside, spatial planning fosters emotional regulation and play with varying ceiling heights shaping areas of cosiness alongside those of expansive loftiness. A design language has been devised to subtly connect children to the natural environment. Just as the exterior palette nods to the bark of gum trees, interior colours are inspired by the tones of soft greens, terracotta and peach that sit just below the bark’s surface. Deliberate window placement high in the junctures between ceiling and walls and low-lying apertures skirting the floor ensure seasonal changes, weather and times of day are marked in the play of light and its constant march, visibly connecting children to the outdoors through framed expanses of sky, tree canopies and ground coverings of tanbark, grass and sand.
In collaboration with the local council, Zen Architects has realised a place that binds the community, nurtures human relationships and instils joy and sensory engagement during the early education years.
Builder: Devco
Photography: Tom Ross
Wurundjeri Country
The owners of Garden House in Mount Eagle Estate loved their property and garden, but the house lacked light and outdoor connections, and the centre was dark, wasted space. Having lived in the home for more than 20 years, they came to Zen Architects wanting a design that brought them closer to their garden.
While the 1930s heritage façade gives no hint to what lies behind, all is immediately revealed upon opening the front door. Taking inspiration from the curvilinear roads and teardrop-shaped reserves of the subdivision, we sculpted a curved glass facade into the living area. Drawing light and nature deep into the floor plan, the glass void brings the clients close to their garden from all living spaces, as the interior expands around it.
The family room is at the centre of the home, and the kitchen and dining area along the north side, where soft light filters through the glass splashback and high-level window. The sunken living room on the south side is bathed in northern light as it radiates over the top of the teardrop, and deep eaves around the glass facade protect the interior from the summer sun. The terrace and deck embed the house in the landscape; eliminating balustrading helps forge this closer connection.
Off-white dry-pressed brick and dark stone flooring take their cues from the subdivision, and are softened with timber to reflect the existing gumtrees. This palettes creates a natural, cosy interior secondary to the landscape, highlighting the vibrant garden outside.
Builder: Genjusho
Photography: Derek Swalwell
Wurundjeri Country
Pool House allowed us to re-imagine the way a family could live both now and into the future by transforming the client’s existing property into a multi-generational home for life.
The project gave us a unique opportunity to overcome the shortfalls of older style terrace housing with a modern, context-sensitive development.
The priority was to bring as much light as possible into living spaces while also connecting to year-round, usable outdoor space. To achieve this, the generous, open plan living area was elevated to the first floor, allowing the client to gain access to incredible views, natural light and cooling breezes in the warmer months.
The swimming pool was located adjacent to an existing first floor terrace area that was previously under-utilised, bathing it in light and seamlessly connecting it to the living area. Bedrooms were positioned on the ground level to enhance thermal stability and privacy while the double car space was positioned off the rear laneway, adjacent to a new internal entry lobby.
Externally, sensitive use of scale and detail allows the house to sit comfortably within the surrounding Victorian heritage, ensuring compatibility with the existing streetscape while offering a uniquely contemporary way of approaching life in the inner-city.
Builder: Basis Builders
Photographer: Derek Swalwell
Wurundjeri Country
Local House is a modern, sustainable home that reinterprets the character of Mount Eagle Estate and harmonises with its landscaped surrounding.
Local House is home to a couple who love art, travelling and appreciate good design. They have four adult children, recently became grandparents, and wanted a house where their family could comfortably visit and stay.
Their existing split-level house – where they raised their family – was inefficient, poorly planned and didn’t optimise the site. They engaged Zen Architects to design their new home, providing a comprehensive list of requirements for sustainability and spatial planning, which we achieved through orientation, layout and palette. The house also had to meet the heritage, landscape and vegetation protection overlays of Mount Eagle Estate, a historically significant suburb planned and designed by Marion Mahoney and Walter Burley Griffin in 1915.
Designed for aging in place, their new single-storey home is accessible and mobility-friendly. The planning separates private, public and guest spaces – allowing the house to expand and contract with visiting family members – and is interwoven with outdoor and landscaped areas.
We selected a robust and tactile material palette to integrate the house within its setting, helping connect the building to the site and the garden weaving inside and out. These natural, recycled and sustainable materials – sourced almost entirely from within Victoria – will age gracefully, minimising maintenance and contributing to healthy interiors. Carefully placed windows optimise light and ventilation for passive solar design, and the landscape will grow in, around and over the house with time.
Builder: CBD Contracting Group
Photography: Derek Swalwell
Bunurong Country
Based upon the concepts of living in a garden and gathering under a roof, Project Nymph required the renovation and extension of a single fronted terrace house located in the Botanic Gardens precinct of inner Melbourne.
At the end of the hallway of the original terrace house the new kitchen and dining area open out to the full width of the site with slate paving and full height north facing glazing.
A large timber pergola with roof and seasonal shading extends over both the internal and external areas, connecting the paved garden with the kitchen and dining area as one large courtyard space. Smaller scale rooms have been added at the rear of the site, including wet areas, a lounge room and a first floor principal bedroom with ensuite and adjoining terrace.
The building features natural materials, both inside and out, bringing the qualities of the nearby gardens into the living areas of the house.
Builder: Dome Building Projects
Photographer: Derek Swalwell
Wurundjeri Country
Zoe and Daniel loved their postwar clinker-brick house and their garden filled with fruit trees, but their property had far more potential than was being realised. They engaged Zen Architects to design a spacious, sun-filled house behind their existing home and between the trees, creating a family home that invites play and exploration in nature.
We designed the building to flow with the long, narrow, sloping site. The floor steps with the falls in the land and the ceiling peels upwards at each junction, with high-level windows framing sky views and allowing northern light deep into the interior. Each level also defines the main spaces within the home.
Three bedrooms, a bathroom and a second living area are on the first level. A brick wall curves around a courtyard to the east and provides a textural internal finish to complement the plywood ceilings, joinery and hardwood floors. On the next level down is the kitchen and dining area with a large, communal island. Steps lead down to the light-filled lounge, sunken below the level of the deck and pool. Large north-facing windows provide a view and connection to the large playful and productive garden, and the concrete floors and brick wall harness the heat of the winter sun, creating a cosy retreat.
Zoe and Daniel’s new home is connected to the existing house but independent in function and use. They have since converted their original home into an office and studio, further optimising the potential of their site.
Builder: Parallel Group
Photography: Derek Swalwell
Wurundjeri Country
An exploration in restoration, re-use and recycling, Art House features natural local materials re-imagined through local manufacturing and craftsmanship.
Our first endeavour was to retain as much character of the original Victorian residence as possible. We retained the weatherboards and Victorian detailing externally, lifted, de-nailed and re-used the Baltic pine floorboards as well as the skirting boards, architraves, doors and windows. The walls, floor and ceiling were all heavily insulated and existing windows re-glazed, elevating the residence to exceed current standards.
Local artisans were engaged to install handmade creations throughout including concrete benches, timber windows, stairs, balustrades and shelving, joinery, brass fixtures and fittings, plant shelves and tiles. Natural, raw materials finished with no or low-toxicity finishes provide a healthy indoor environment that is comfortable year-round.
Although sympathetic to the original, the extension was framed in a contemporary way through material, detailing and form. The property features a play on levels, volume and light as you move through a series of interconnected spaces. From the first-floor internal courtyard to the ground floor sunken lounge, out to the contoured landscape and across to the detached artist studio at the rear the experience is playful and unexpected.
Builder: 2iC
Landscape Architect: Eckersley Garden Architecture
Photographer: Emma Cross
Wurundjeri Country
Located on a narrow site in Melbourne, the North Carlton Green House was inspired by our client’s connection with landscape and represents the innovative use of sustainable design principles.
We offset the house from the north boundary and created a courtyard with north facing windows. Deciduous planting provides shade in summer, with additional plants integrated throughout the site to improve the indoor air quality. Perched above the surrounding rooftops and nestled in the tree canopies, a roof garden acts as an oasis from the urban environment.
Passive heating is provided by a two storey north facing void that allows sun to penetrate deep into the house, heating the thermal mass of exposed concrete floor and ceiling. Passive cooling is provided by windows located to catch breezes cooled by the courtyard plants and pond, while a two storey void facilitates natural heat removal through stack effect.
The end result is a living, breathing, sustainable space that is a pleasure to inhabit.
Photographer: Emma Cross
Wurundjeri Country
Our Light Saw House represents a contemporary, design-based solution to sustainable architecture.
Built upon an existing double fronted Edwardian weatherboard, our clients sought a local architectural response to a property they had owned for some time, but not lived in for 15 years whilst overseas.
To accomplish the project requirements, the original house was retained, but retro-fit in such a way as to exceed current building standards. A compact extension to the rear addresses the need to bring light and warmth over the top of the existing house.
The volumes created allow the compact floor plan to feel generous and in proportion to the original house without overshadowing the south facing backyard. All new rooms are connected to the environment through views to the sky and adjacent landscaped gardens.
Recycled or recyclable materials have been utilised throughout. Existing external brick paving, paths and garden beds were salvaged and re-imagined internally to connect the garden to the wet areas. Key trees, retained and protected during construction, now thrive within a newly landscaped environment.
Builder: Philip Building Group
Landscape Architect: Eckersley Garden Architecture
Photographer: Derek Swalwell
Wadawurrung Country
Our Boulevard Beach House evokes the fond memory of an elevated timber beach house. By referencing the simple, elegant forms and practical, efficient spaces we have designed something entirely new yet surprisingly familiar.
The house is designed to harness the sun whilst providing shelter from the extreme weather of the Surf Coast that rolls in and collides with the cliffs of the beach just across the road. Incredible sea views are captured through carefully considered apertures without loss of privacy to the street.
By utilising a similar footprint to the original house, we were able to retain the existing garden including several mature trees delivering a strong connection to its local environment. The stained cypress pine weatherboard cladding is designed to age gracefully to a silver grey embedding the house within the already established landscape.
A restrained, natural material palette of recycled timber joinery, local hardwood timber floors and goats’ wool carpet create warm and inviting interiors offering a sense of being in and surrounded by the natural world.
Builder: R & B Kahle
Interiors: Doherty Design Studio
Photography: Gorta Yuuki
Wadawurrung Country
The Autonomous House exemplifies our commitment to environmentally sound and eco-friendly design principles. We proposed a house that could harvest its own power and water and treat its own waste on site in response to the client’s values and the reality of difficult access to services.
On this rural property on the Surf Coast, the house was positioned where a large gumtree had fallen, allowing north light to penetrate into an otherwise dense and dark canopy. By minimising vegetation removal we maintained privacy in this bush setting.
The small footprint of the building is designed to weave between the trees along a well-worn wallaby track. All habitable rooms have access to articulated north facing windows for capturing light and heat as well as southern windows for free flowing cross ventilation.
The result is a house that, as its name indicates, is completely self-sustaining.
Builder: R & B Kahle
Photographer: Emma Cross & Sharyn Cairns
Bunurong Country
Nestled within the contours of the land, the amenities buildings on the Sandringham foreshore provide clear views of the beach and the surrounding coastal vegetation.
The structures are lightweight, reducing embodied energy and ground disturbance at the sensitive foreshore locations. The siting of the buildings improves both safety and accessibility, and allows for uninterrupted sight lines for natural surveillance.
The roof forms are designed to harvest rain water and accommodate solar panels for water and energy conservation. The buildings are also permeable, allowing filtered sunlight and bay breezes into the interior environment.
The crouched, bent forms are a deliberate departure from the rectilinear forms and gable roofs in the area, while materials are drawn from the local environment, including timber walkways and structural framing, steel cladding, and clear roofs with timber batten shading.
Builder: Cellstruct Building Group
Photographer: Jack Lovel
Taungurung Country
Our client, the Shire Council and the Yea Wetlands Trust, required a multi-purpose building that could serve the needs of tourism, education and the community.
The project brief required a versatile design approach that would allow the building to perform as both an information centre for visitors to Yea and an environmental education centre for students.
Situated on the edge of the wetlands, adjacent to the point at which the freeway becomes the main street of Yea, the building’s position allows it to act as a gateway to both the town and wetlands. The outside form of the building responds to the site, appearing as a natural extension of the wetlands without sacrificing visibility.
Externally, the building's broad, sweeping curve is easily visible from the freeway and represents a striking beacon for new visitors to the wetlands. The inner side of the building frames a natural amphitheatre, providing a sanctuary for visitors that is protected from the noise of the road and opens up to the wetlands beyond.
Builder: Darjelyn Constructions
Photographer: Emma Cross
Wurundjeri Country
Built on gently sloping land in suburban Melbourne, this contemporary and environmentally friendly home is designed to integrate seamlessly with the inherent natural beauty of the existing site.
Our approach favoured the use of natural materials, both inside and out, in order to create a relationship between the house and its surrounding environment. A series of inter-connecting rooms allow clear lines of vision throughout the house while also maximising the available light.
The application of passive solar design principles provides an abundance of warmth in winter and captures cooling breezes during summer. This light filled, split level home features the intelligent and sensitive application of sustainable design principles, conveying a feeling of openness, expansiveness and calm.
Builder: Prostart Constructions
Landscape Architect: PEOPL
Photographer: Emma Cross
Wurundjeri Country
The ethos behind the conversion of this 1960's warehouse was to retain and re-use as much of the existing building as possible while still transforming it into a comfortable and energy efficient family home.
The philosophy of retaining and re-using materials was applied throughout the project. In addition to the building envelope being retained, many original elements were re-used including light fittings, sprinkler pipes, doors, cladding and roof sheeting.
The existing warehouse floor slab was also kept, partially due to restricted site access, but also for its inherent embodied energy.
The addition of a north-facing courtyard provides a generous amount of light and heat in winter in an otherwise poorly oriented building. Cross ventilation is achieved through new high level louvres. Mezzanine rooms float within the original volume and structure of the warehouse. A new raised deck links the living areas with the courtyard.
By inserting a garden and light into an existing warehouse we have created an warm and liveable family home.
Builder: Truewood Constructions
Photographer: Emma Cross
Wurundjeri Country
Our client contacted us with a request to design an extension to their existing property in order to accommodate the needs of a growing family. In this case, the small area of the site required a unique approach to achieve the required outcomes.
In response, we designed a flexible, multi-purpose studio that requires very little land. It includes two sleeping areas, a bathroom and a generous living space with the potential to be arranged into a living, kitchen and dining space.
We arranged the shape of the building to minimise amenity impacts to the neighbours, while also controlling sunlight and views from windows, thereby creating a sense of space without sacrificing privacy. As the building was positioned beside a laneway, we were also able to provide it with its own private entrance, separating it from the main home.
The clients can now cater for their immediate need for more space, while enjoying flexible choices for future use. Without impacting amenity they are now able to enjoy views of their own architecture across a shared garden space.
Builder: Built by JSB
Landscape Architect: Mud Office
Photographer: Jack Lovel
Wurundjeri Country
A rear addition to an existing double fronted period home in West Brunswick, The Nest consists of a new open plan living area and a mezzanine.
The client’s brief specified that the kitchen should be the focal point of the house with all family rooms interacting with this area. The solution came in the form of a nest-like mezzanine studio that floats above the living area. Underneath the canopy of a dramatic, north-facing raked roof, the mezzanine facilitates interaction between each room in the house while still allowing separation of spaces for privacy, acoustics or thermal comfort if required.
The result is a compact, interwoven house that respects its surrounding environment whilst enhancing the passive solar performance of both the old and new sections of house and interaction with outdoor spaces at the rear.
Builder: Truewood Constructions
Photographer: Emma Cross
Wurundjeri Country
A contemporary extension to an existing residence, the purpose of the Tree View house was to bring a new degree of comfort, functionality and sustainability to a family home.
The existing house was preserved for many reasons: budget, the existing streetscape and the ethos of recycling. The contemporary addition responds to naturally occurring site features including solar access, breezes and tree views.
The addition is pushed back from the northern boundary to improve solar access to living spaces and decks. The split roof form is generated by the opposing forces that rake the roof north towards solar gain and neighbouring treetop views, while also lifting it to the south towards southerly breezes and an existing maple tree.
The southern garden, previously disconnected from the house was reimagined and transformed into the focal point, creating a relationship between the house and its surrounding environment.
Builder: Figurehead Constructions
Photographer: Emma Cross
Wadawurrung Country
An exercise in cradle-to-cradle recycling, the Zen House aims to create a contemporary family home that is imbued with the spirit of the existing site.
The pre-existing 1970’s beach house on the Surf Coast was carefully dismantled to allow reassembly within the context of the new building. The existing garden was retained and increased in size by reducing the new building’s footprint. In turn, this allowed for a productive garden to thrive on the northern façade, helping to control sun and wind and making the house feel more comfortable and connected to the ground.
The radially sawn timber fins on the east façade angle variably, animating the façade in a wave-like manner as the viewer approaches the building. This façade also serves to protect the southern end of the upper floor decks from cold south-easterly breezes while opening out to the sun and views at the northern end.
These timber fins are visible both inside and out, which ties the building together reinforcing the feelings of shelter and connection to the natural world.
Builder: R & B Kahle
Photographer: Emma Cross
Wurundjeri Country
An addition to an existing brick house, the Bush Studio was designed to act as an inspiring workspace for an artist.
Located in a quiet bush landscape, the lightweight timber structure hovers above the ground, perched in the canopy of native trees. The building is clad with sustainably harvested, radially sawn local hardwood that complements the surrounding environment.
The building is oriented to maximise the availability of light and allow passive heating through solar gain, while deep awnings and natural cross ventilation prevent overheating in summer.
In addition, the existing local ecology was unharmed by the new construction and was actively enhanced by revegetation.
Builder: Truewood Constructions
Photographer: Emma Cross
Wurundjeri Country
Our client, a boutique graphic design and publishing company located in Carlton, sought to re-purpose an existing building for their new offices. The contemporary design provides an enjoyable and creative working environment while remaining sensitive to the original structure.
We began by stripping the building back to its core elements. The building’s façade was transformed from impermeable fixed glass to open-able glass louvres, allowing natural ventilation with individual occupant control. The street-facing façade was also fitted with an external adjustable sun shade to control solar exposure on a daily and seasonal basis.
The ground floor entry was rejuvenated and made wheelchair accessible while the street edge was revitalised with landscaped features including warm timber and lush gardens. A new floor, containing a kitchen and breakout spaces, meeting rooms and an outdoor rooftop garden, was added to increase amenity.
In order to provide for growth, we implemented improved internal layouts that resulted in both spatial efficiency and flexibility for future changes and expansion.
Builder: Harris HMC Interiors
Photographer: Emma Cross
Wurundjeri Country
The North Fitzroy Sustainable House is an energy and water autonomous, three-bedroom contemporary house. It is an example of building sustainably in a heritage-listed inner-city suburb with demanding planning restrictions.
The house is passively heated by a central core of sunlight, a north-facing two-storey void that distributes light and heat to surrounding rooms. Shading devices block the summer sun but allow winter sun to penetrate deep into the building. The ground floor contains thermal mass in the form of a concrete slab and solid brick and stone walls where heat is stored warming the house. Windows that catch prevailing breezes provide passive cooling, while a two-storey void facilitates natural heat removal through the stack effect.
Rainwater is harvested and stored in underground 10,000 litre tanks and is used for all fresh water needs in the house. Grey water is recycled and used for toilet flushing and in the garden. The inhabitants, a family of five, use very little precious fresh water for showering as a Japanese bath allows them to bathe for as long as they want in solar heated water that is only changed once annually as it is constantly filtered by aeration.
Builder - Truewood Constructions
Bunurong Country
Our clients required a house that was sensitive to its environment while also capable of resolving security and privacy issues from the busy street and car park opposite.
We set the residence back behind the liquidambar tree in the front yard, creating an open, north facing garden that provides a buffer to the street.
The design places a protected courtyard at the centre of the residence. Easily accessible from each part of the house, this approach allows the courtyard to act as both a focal point and a natural corridor.
In addition to connecting all sections of the house, the courtyard also takes advantage of naturally available light and ventilation, providing an abundance of warmth and sunlight in both the central courtyard and the rear living areas.
Builder: Prostart Constructions
Photographer: Emma Cross
Wurundjeri Country
Inspired by Melbourne’s café culture, this eco-friendly residence adopts a communal approach to its functional and aesthetic design.
The kitchen and living rooms open fully to the outdoor dining areas, encouraging shared enjoyment. A bar area is defined in the kitchen with servery access to the outside. Passive solar efficiency is achieved by having living areas oriented to the north and minimal glazing to the south.
Outside, a pergola featuring the beginnings of a grape vine defines the external dining space. The carport extends the outdoor dining area providing additional entertaining space for larger gatherings and connection with the rear laneway.
More intimate areas are achieved through the use of different volumes within the open plan arrangement. The result is a comfortable and flexible home that effortlessly combines the old with the new.
Builder: James McBride & Associates
Photographer: Emma Cross
Wurundjeri Country
We were given a unique opportunity to apply passive solar design principles used in the client’s residential project completed a few years earlier to their business premises.
Located on a busy stretch of the Melton Highway, the Brimbank Veterinary Clinic achieves visibility through its large entrance canopy. The canopy also acts as a surface to harvest water, which is then used for the pet washing service adjacent to the entry.
Operable clerestory windows located in and between the consultancy rooms provide an abundance of natural light and warmth while also allowing for the passive ventilation of odours, a priority requirement in any veterinary clinic.
The result is a warm, spacious and highly functional building that allows staff to perform at their best while also providing a pleasurable experience for pets and their owners.
Photographer: Emma Cross
Wurundjeri Country
The Eco House was designed in response to our client’s brief for a site that utilised locally produced, sustainability sourced, recycled or organic materials.
This brief was fulfilled through the use of eco-friendly materials including recycled bricks, Earthwool insulation made from recycled glass, thermal mass in the concrete slab, locally sourced timbers and triple glazed windows.
Although situated on a small block, the house is still able to accommodate a family of six. The building is oriented north for passive solar gain, and the living rooms on the first floor benefit from unobstructed solar gain. Summer heat loads are controlled by adjustable shades made from recycled ship sail canvas.
Natural ventilation is facilitated through the use of mechanically operable clerestory windows above the central stair void which draw air up through the house. Roof mounted photovoltaics and 100% green power sourced from the energy provider produces a low-consumption environment.
The result is an incredibly efficient building that benefits aesthetically from the environmentally responsible materials as well as their performance
Photographer: Emma Cross
