Homes
The homes featured here are proof that sustainable living doesn’t mean compromise. From hempcrete houses in European forests to rammed earth retreats on the Australian coast, we document residential projects that are as beautiful as they are responsible – exploring the materials, the makers and the ideas behind a new generation of homes built for the future.
The Apple House is an imaginative test of natural materials
A community building with heart, The Apple House features hemp, lime plaster, spruce glulam and an earthen floor – all with a respectful outlook to the surrounding orchard.
La Crêta Farmhouse shows us the art of taking away
The most profound thing Bard Yersin did to this 18th-century Fribourg farmhouse was strip away layers from an earlier renovation. La Crêta is an adaptive reuse project that proves sustainable design’s most powerful tool is restraint.
Reviving a wounded mill: Ennenda Mühle is restitched with care
At a former medieval mill in Ennenda, Switzerland, Atelier Lando Rossmaier begins with careful deconstruction, peeling back layers to reveal and renew the building’s original structure. The adaptive reuse project rebuilds the house using materials sourced within roughly ten miles, including local timber, lime and hemp-lime walls that help regulate moisture in the ageing masonry. Through this restrained approach, the once-abandoned mill is revived as a home and goldsmith’s workshop while preserving the character of its historic fabric.
Inside Casa Wabi’s coastal residences
On a wild stretch of Oaxaca’s Pacific coast, Casa Wabi reimagines the traditional palapa as a minimalist artist’s refuge – pairing open-sided, palm-thatched structures with locally crafted timber furniture and raw, material-led artworks by founder Bosco Sodi.
House LO is a hempcrete experiment in a forest
In a woodland clearing in the Czech Republic, House LO stands as a testament to refined design and experimentation. Designed by Ateliér Lina Bellovičová, the home is built almost entirely from hempcrete – a bio-based material not often used in the region.
A healthy home made with cork, bamboo and hemp
With its compact footprint and clever urban insertion, Brown House treats home as an ecosystem, using bio-based materials to construct a healthier, lower-impact model for urban living.
Casa Plaj is a study in lime render
At Casa Plaj, a holiday residence in Portugal, the defining feature is a lime render skin that coats the building inside and out.
A case study for building with healthy materials
Brown House demonstrates what’s possible when small urban parcels are treated with an air of experimentation
Explore materials
MycoWorks
MycoWorks sits at the intersection of biotechnology, craft and material innovation, demonstrating how grown materials can reshape the future of high-performance surfaces. Its work offers a compelling reference point for designers exploring alternatives to extractive, animal-based and petrochemical material systems.
Textiles through Circular Sourcing
Circular Sourcing is an Australian marketplace connecting designers with high-quality deadstock and surplus textiles, helping reduce waste and support a more circular fashion and textile industry.
Cerclos
Cerclos provides cutting-edge life cycle assessment tools and expertise that empower architects, engineers and sustainability professionals to quantify and reduce environmental impacts across the full lifecycle of buildings and infrastructure, supporting data-driven decarbonisation and sustainable design.
Durra Panel – Compressed straw wall & ceiling system
Durra Panel is an Australian-made interior wall and ceiling panel system engineered from compressed agricultural straw. It turns a widely available seasonal by-product into a high-performance lining material that combines acoustic comfort, thermal regulation and fire resistance with a naturally derived construction core.
