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.
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Certifications
Cradle to Cradle
Cradle to Cradle is a circular product certification assessing material health, reuse, carbon, water and social fairness. Learn how it works and what it means.
Declare
Declare is a material transparency label showing what building products are made from. Learn what it measures, what it doesn’t, and how to use it.
GECA (Good Environmental Choice Australia)
GECA is Australia’s official ecolabel for products. Learn what it measures, what it doesn’t, who it’s for, and how it supports better specification.
Bamboo
Bamboo could be Australia’s most underused climate solution
While bamboo has long been celebrated in parts of Asia for its strength, speed and sustainability, Australia is only just beginning to recognise its potential as a viable building material – and a powerful tool in the climate response.
Bamboo’s tensile strength unlocked
Bamboo in construction is a high strength and easily accessible building material, with potential to revolutionise sustainable building practices.
Bamboo’s role in emergency housing and modular construction
Bamboo is often used as a resource for emergency shelters due to its rapid growth rate, accessibility and strength.
Hempcrete
Hempcrete vs coventional building materials
Hempcrete vs. Concrete – which one comes out on top? Discover the sustainable advantages of hempcrete over concrete in this detailed comparison.
Hempcrete is a sustainable insulation solution
Hempcrete insulation offers a highly effective and sustainable alternative for your home.
Working with hempcrete blocks
Hempcrete blocks offer a sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional construction methods.
CLT
CLT’s design flexibility
Explore the design considerations with cross-laminated timber that make it a transformative, sustainable and structural option.
Timber rising with CLTs construction techniques
Building with CLT offers economic and sustainable benefits as part of the installation process.
A timber tale: The different applications for cross laminated timber
Cross laminated timber can be used in various building applications, from structural frames to floor and wall panels.
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NABERS (National Australian Built Environment Rating System)
NABERS measures the real operational performance of Australian buildings. Learn what it rates, what it doesn’t, who it’s for, and how it works in practice.
Green Star
A guide to Green Star by the GBCA – covering energy, carbon, materials, health, common misconceptions, and its role in Australian buildings.
NatHERS
NatHERS measures the thermal performance of Australian homes. Learn what it assesses, what it doesn’t, who it’s for, and how it fits into sustainable building.
Traceability is the key to unlocking true circular design
Traceability is at the heart of the circular design. You can’t keep materials in play if you don’t know exactly what they are, where they came from, or how they behave over time.
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.
