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Prefab's Spotted Gum cladding ensures the budget friendly modular design looks both high-class and appropriate to its coastal setting.

A terrace house typically makes you think, long, narrow and dark. This terrace might be long and narrow, but it's also light and lush!

With a folded roof form and charred timber cladding, Pleated House has plenty of flair for its design-conscious owners.

A project home from the 1970s with poor solar orientation is reconfigured and realigned. Now it catches the sun for energy efficiency.

While retaining as much of the original house for cost and environmental reasons, this home is completely transformed.

The owners of this coastal block enjoyed years of beach holidays before deciding to build. Here's how it shaped their home...

Taking advantage of a mature native landscape, this home captures all the right views so it feels like you're floating in the treetops.

A double garage has the perfect amount of space for a new multi-functional studio the owners will get far more use out of.

When you think of an off-grid house you typically imagine a remote cabin in the bush, but these eco-townhouses tell a different story.

From the street, this looks like a house with no windows, but once inside you realise it's the exact opposite...

Working with what was already there to create a modern family home had its challenges on this bushland site in the Blue Mountains.

With views over the golf course, the architect achieved a mid-century-inspired design, while adhering to local design guidelines.

In a street of single-storey timber houses, this playful new home reinterprets its neighbours so it feels at home in the street.

This compact family home uses the power of the sun for heating and cooling, keeping a family of six happy and comfortable.

Renovation uses half of the original roof structure to create a new raked roof and wraps the original fibro shack in new cladding.

If you want the look and feel of luxury at your home, it pays to think a bit smaller and pay attention to the details.

Each room of this addition steps down with the contours of the site, while the plan zigzags to access light and connect to the garden.

While this modern farm house feels shiny and new, traditional elements like the generous verandah gives it the best of both worlds.

The use of up to 75 per cent recycled timber as structure and cladding brings warmth and variety to this modern beach house.

This understated addition to an historic sandstone cottage is designed to age and weather gracefully to fit into its surrounds.

Two avid climbers, a professor and a gallery owner, teamed up to build a house in the Blue Mountains to host fellow climbers and artists.

From distant water views to the nearby sculptural native trees, Bass Street Residence angles itself to take it all in…

This superb Mountain Retreat utilises local stone to minimise impact to the external environment, but maximise the internal environment.

Winscombe Extension deals with a growing family and a strong desire to establish a connection to the manicured rear garden…

Designed in a flood-prone area, this modest, sustainable beach house touches the earth so lightly it appears to float!

A house inspired by 20th Century naval camouflage. There's something you don't hear everyday…

From very early on it was clear that a simple box would dramatically improve the amenity of this home. And what a beautiful box it is!

An unashamedly modern extension manages to integrate old and new by putting a modern spin on materials and colors from the original home.

Southern Highlands House's new tiny work space, feels more like an art piece than an office - well proportioned, beautifully curved and effortlessly simple.

In true glamping style Kurreki Beach Retreat has real beds but opens completely onto a courtyard and uses mosquito nets and shower curtains where necessary.

Going against the status quo in this beach town, sustainability meets style in a thermally-consistent, biophilic, family home.

This old home needed rebuilding from the stumps up, but the result is an energy-efficient, all-electric family home.

A beautiful studio on Tasmania's coastline offers the perfect place to relax and soak in the views.

The addition creates a new living area and main bedroom suite, completely transforming the functionality and style of this home.

Two pavilions offset to capture light and views and create a sheltered courtyard help this home look and feel much larger than it is.

Much of the charm of this original Edwardian cottage had been removed, painted over and, in some cases, plastered over.

With clever planning and bringing light and framed views in at every opportunity, this long, narrow site feels surprisingly spacious.

By thinking differently about the floor plan, this modular beach hosue is able to take advantage of stunning ocean views.

This house crossed with a warehouse is the perfect live/work space for a family who are always making or doing something...

For a client who lives alone, this renovation was about creating the perfect home for their lifestyle, not more space.

Surrounded by bushland, this home is off-grid and bushfire resilient to deal with its beautiful but challenging location.

Built to Passive House standards, this home has exceptional energy-efficiency performance for comfortable living year-round.

On a tricky, but naturally beautiful battle-axe site, this home celebrates its assets and minimises its drawbacks.

Designed with sustainability, low maintenance and natural ventilation in mind, this is a low-budget family home with a difference...

An addition which doesn't overshadow the original heritage house, but improves the home's spaciousness, access to light and the yard.

With COVID-19, remote working and a beautiful new home in the country, the time seemed perfect for this family's tree change.

A west-facing backyard and poorly-designed additions left this family with dark mornings and overheated afternoons, but no longer...

The roof and layout of the original home serve as the inspiration for a new addition, but a modern twist creates perfect family home.

A beautiful new living space wrapping around a courtyard deck plus main bedroom suite creates the perfect home for a family of six.

A beach house doesn't need to feel like a glass box on stilts, this home feels intimate while still celebrating the views.

An avid collector needed a place to display and enjoy his assortment of quirky objects. Enter Über Shed 2, a shed/rumpus room/gallery.

A refined and considered home in a new estate shows the power of using an architect versus buying off-the-plan from a bulk builder.

For tree-changers Matt and Leanne, an important part of their ideal home was making the most of their spectacular site.

You might be surprised how little extra space you need if you take the time to get the floor plan right...

The clever addition has been sliced and diced to deal with all the constraints of the site, but it guarantees light, space and views.

Renovating a heritage house the right way means you can enjoy the benefits of a modern home while respecting the house's history.

This addition to a historic bluestone farmhouse doesn't match the original building, but it pays its respects in its own way...

Running the two homes perpendicular to the street allows this dual occupancy design to maximise views and maintain privacy.

An incredible home for a much-loved grandmother allows her to live independently (but close by). It's better than a retirement village!

A private, yet light-filled coastal home is the perfect fit for a retired couple, with plenty of room for visitors.

Celebrating an incredible rural site, this eco-friendly home opens up to the views, basks in the sun and collects all its own water.

How do you extend an old cottage which used to belong to the client's mother? By reinterpreting the original cottage, that's how...

With an incredible site just one street from the beach and close to the city, these architects built their ideal family home.

This family were miserable in their south-facing living areas, but thanks to a clever addition, their home is now light and bright.

When the inhabitants of your suburban fringe block include a number of old native trees, mimic their style and go timber all over.

Instead of sacrificing their productive garden, plants are encouraged to grow up the walls of this clever backyard studio.

This home holds special memories for the architect, Pat Jost, making it important to retain the elements that fill it with character.

Opening onto a huge deck, with incredible views from every room, you'll never guess what makes this country home so unique.

It's not often you get to build a new house in the inner city. What would you do if you had a clean slate?

Inspired by the spaces and ornamentation of the original home, this home plays with light and space to create a dramatic addition.

The '80s was responsible for numerous crimes against taste (but some pretty fabs music). What can you do to right some of those wrongs?

Built in an area that sometimes encounters snow, this home in the hills has a small footprint, but large volumes make it feel spacious.

'This house was purchased by Kasimiersz and Lucia in 1955', reads a plaque on the wall. One of the ways this home remembers its past...

We're all a little bit obsessed with shipping container houses. You'll understand why once you take a look at this home...

A retreat built by the architect and a group of architecture students is a hands-on, experimental process from design to construction.

Clever thinking achieves a simple timber beach house the client desired while still meeting bushfire and energy efficiency regulations.

Experimenting with ideas of affordability without sacrificing liveability, North Street House is the perfect home for a young couple.

What do you do with a triangular site? Perhaps the best solution is to think outside of the box. Or triangle, as the case may be...

An elegant timber extension at the rear of this heritage home is bathed in natural light thanks to its northern orientation.

A huge periscope is one way to get light into Westbury Crescent Residence without sacrificing privacy. The clever manipulation of light doesn't stop there!

With the option to demolish and start from scratch, MRTN Architects instead create a sensitive addition to this Victorian cottage.

A modern retreat for an elderly couple built on the family property - the perfect spot to enjoy retirement close to family.

Built on a challenging site with significant bushfire risk, this home enjoys amazing views over bushland in the Macedon Ranges.

Inspired by Mid-century design with a touch of Aussie shed, this stylish shack is the perfect combination of cool and practical.

In contrast to the neighbouring weatherboard houses, this crisp, modern modular home makes a huge statement in this Melbourne street.

From the heritage facade you'd never expect to find this light-filled, colourful and playful home which spills into the backyard.

Set well away from the original house, this new addition creates a central courtyard which all living areas wrap around.

A passive design and solar panels creates a comfortable house year-round which also generates income for this family.

A home set in an expansive garden is divided and sheltered into quadrants by cross-shaped Gabion baskets, creating a variety of spaces.

Measuring in at just 11 square metres of additional space, this tiny addition punches above its weight for its size.

Brunswick has a rich history of bluestone quarries and brickworks. Quarry House updates a Victorian terrace with this history in mind.

This renovation for a woman with a busy work life needed to be relaxing and low-maintenance - the perfect retreat after a long day.

Clad in zinc, this simple rear addition creates a light-filled, low-fuss extension for a young family to grow.

After a series of ad-hoc alterations, this long-time family home was in need of a major overhaul - it was raised, built-in and under.

This considered addition capitalises on good qualities of the home and fixes the less than ideal. What can be saved in your addition?

How to deal with a small block? Don't sacrifice the backyard, stack it on top of the house and you've got a sophisticated roof deck!

Dealing with poor orientation this North-facing cloistered space acts as circulation and additional indoor/outdoor living space.

This robust home for a family of six will be knocked about by the young family and accumulate character through the passage of time.

A stainless steel net for growing deciduous vines wraps this narrow home, transforming it into a nest for vertical family living.

Thanks to a double-height space and an expansive openable wall of glass to capture the view, this home feels positively spacious.

This home is "designed to give the same carefree relaxing ambience as a bach - step in, kick off your shoes and grab a glass of wine."

Jost Architects mediate heritage controls and an eager client brief to deliver a delightful update to an inter-war home.

Scribbly Gums on the site of this new family home inspire the use of timber internally and help to generate the colour palette.

This modern beach house wraps around courtyards and open spaces to blur the lines between inside and out - perfect for a beach retreat.

The reordering and extension of this Art Deco home frames a view of an existing and prolific cumquat tree at the rear of the property.

Hilltop House is a small, carefully crafted dwelling on the steep eastern slopes of Pittwater, a waterway to the north of Sydney.

This welcoming house has a verandah so generous it blurs the line between a courtyard house and a traditional Australian verandah.

This timber-clad four bedroom beach-side family home is perched on a steep dune in a quiet pocket of the Mornington Peninsula region.

On a windy and exposed site, nestled behind a hill, sits a metal clad nugget; a home for a gold prospector and his family...

This off-the-grid home is close to the beach in the Daintree Rainforest — an ancient ecosystem deserving a thoughtful approach to site.

A two-storey rear addition to a classic Edwardian-era home is sympathetic to its origins, but unashamedly modern at the same time.

Timber's warmth and laid-back nature meets clean lines and expanses of glass to create a style that is sophisticated yet relaxed.

Built on top of an existing brick double garage, Stradwick House feels more spacious thanks to double height spaces and large windows.

This modern warehouse home reinterprets the existing home style and feeling of the original home with modern flair.

Renovating an inner bayside family home to be flexible as the family grows and subtly remind the owners of time spent on beach holidays.

Thanks to an owner with an interest in sustainable building, Mona Vale House incorporates passive and active sustainability features.

On an extremely small parcel of land Beach Avenue House is designed more like a finely crafted joinery unit than a typical home.

The site of Invermay House has a great view over Ballarat, but vegetation hid the view. This new home cantilevers to capture it back.

The Barrow extension appears as an arrangement of timber boxes, each independently rotated and subjected to varying amounts of extruding and manipulating forces.

Herbst Architects continue their search for the perfect beach bach — Castle Rock Beach House is dramatic in spite of its simplicity…

The Armadale House addition creates an open plan living area with a great connection to the garden, maximising the small site.

A modern, but sensitively sized addition transforms existing interwar home and saturates it in natural light - in-spite of a tiny site.

The Pohutukawa House stands at the coastal foreshore of a wild beach on a site almost overgrown with mature Pohutukawa trees.

A cleverly designed holiday home enjoys beach views and opens directly to the garden but is screened by a mature Pohutukawa tree.

House for Five is a home designed by an architect for his family in an area controlled by strict planning controls. See what he did…

Jones House is a home designed for Australian conditions proving architectural ideas can be achieved without big budgets and costly construction methods.

At House 3 there's enough space for three generations of the one family to live comfortably together despite a tight site.

House C3 sits comfortably in its neighbourhood of 19th century workers' cottages neither shouting its modernity nor mimicking the neighbours.

After stripping back years of unthoughtful additions, Richmond House receives a bright and modern interpretation of a lean-to.

Somers Courtyard House is a low maintenance home to accommodate an expanding family with regular guests. The best part? It's completely off-grid!

A large suburban home for an extended family in the suburbs doesn't need to look and feel like a cookie cutter McMansion…

A grassy green courtyard fit for a cow (ok, not a real cow) at the centre of this renovated St Kilda House adds a bright new focus.

Trentham Long House treads the line between old-fashioned simplicity and the conveniences of contemporary life.

Seaview House is made up of a series of pavilions, designed to fit in with neighbouring old weatherboard cottages without sacrificing contemporary appeal…

With the help of friends and neighbours this beautifully crafted home was realised on a budget closer to a caravan than a family home.

The future of suburban laneways is vibrant and active if this Erskineville Studio project by Pivot Architects is anything to go by.

Westmere Alteration merges inside and out with a contemporary aesthetic and an unbelievable connection to the outside plus upper level sea views…

Middle Park Studio isn't a house. But if it were, it would be a great example of how we can develop backyards with laneway access into smart, sustainable homes.

Dubbed 'The Ark', this child-friendly house has loads of character and a story to tell. It's the antithesis of a minimalist white box.

The design of Orange Grove House is so good the clients couldn't stand to sell as they'd planned and decided to move in instead!

At Datum House the ceiling height, rather than extra square meters, creates a generous and varied sense of space (without the cost).

The weatherboards on this extension compress, extend upwards and weave over the facade in a modern interpretation of the traditional weatherboard cottage.

It can be a challenge to enjoy indoor/outdoor living without sacrificing your privacy. Birchgrove House achieves the perfect balance.

Tackling difficult topography, a heavily treed site and a modest budget, Blackpool House defiantly lofts amongst the treetops - a modest, modern treehouse.

Queens Park House designed to create a series of spaces in the old and new house which are flexible over time.

A highly crafted 'pod' extension achieves a level quality and joy in what is essentially a very simple, easy to construct little box.

On a magnificent, but challenging site, Tinbeerwah House is a beautiful, economical home that sits lightly on the land.

Cranky Corner doesn't sound like the ideal retirement home, but this farmhouse in the Hunter Valley is a comfortable and sustainable place to retire.

This coastal cottage proves that quality always trumps quantity. The small house will age gracefully thanks to quality materials.

From the outside Hill Plain House has an Australian agricultural feel. Inside, it's another story; dark moody and richly detailed.

Islington House brings sunlight deep into the home and shows off the personality of its owners. A unique home for a unique couple.

Eco-friendly Bruny Shore House reaches out from one of the steepest parts of the site to take in the dramatic Tasmanian coastline.

Since the cows moved out, this old shed has been transformed into a modern home for humans

Fitzroy Terrace by Welsh & Major Architects works with the exiting layers of history. The house tells the story of its 170 years of occupation...

Bridge House takes full advantage of a naturally stunning site, straddling a creek bed and touching the earth lightly environmentally and physically.

Hiding at the bottom of a London garden, this glowing writer's shed is the perfect whimsical escape for an author/illustrator who loves children's books.

Coromandel Bach was conceived as a container sitting lightly on the land for habitation. A 'bach' is a New Zealand term for a simple holiday shack.

Karri Loop House has two irregular-shaped courtyards which are centered around three majestic native Australian trees. This is what happens when trees are given the chance to shine.

What if you outgrow the Mornington beach house that's been in the family for years? Architect Clare Cousins designed a 'treehouse' extension for the big kids.

Polygreen is a printed fiberglass box in a neighborhood of red brick warehouses. The contrast is striking - a home covered in vibrant green.