Green home in Melbourne is small on the outside but big on the inside

A small green home has been designed and constructed on a small site that measures 9 metres by 12 metres which is hidden away by neighbours. The home on Beach Avenue in Melbourne, Australia has been challenging to Schulberg Demkiw studios, the architects behind it. They had to make the most of the interior space of the home and make sure that they made the most of what natural light was available, while at the same time making sure that it was private along with being spacious.

[Image Source: Edoardo Campanale for Gizmag]

They admitted that designing a project of that size and with access that was limited had been a challenge for them. They had to use concrete in situ and separate the different zones of the house on different levels while making sure that the house was warm and inviting.

[Image Source: Edoardo Campanale for Gizmag]

They designed the two bedroom green family home on the 108 square meter site in a design that is modern and which stretches out over three levels. The design features floor to ceiling glass windows and in total the property expands over 220 square meters with 30 square meters of courtyards that are enclosed and landscaped.

[Image Source: Edoardo Campanale for Gizmag]

The designers said: "We were limited to building a maximum of two stories out of the ground so we included a basement living area. We were surrounded on three sides by our four neighbors, so we created our own internalized design focusing on internal courtyards. The natural light was difficult to funnel through the three levels so we used courtyards and skylights to assist us."

[Image Source: Edoardo Campanale for Gizmag]

They made use of Perspex on the ground level of the home and this helped when it came to lighting the basement levels along with providing light to the bamboo planting. This extends through to the courtyard on the ground floor and blends the two levels. The ceilings were designed with limed hoop pine timbers along with tallowwood which was recycled. The latter was used for the interior flooring along with the cladding on the outside, the staircases and the windows. The home was designed with a sustainable gas fired hydronic heating system along with high thermal mass interior.

[Image Source: Edoardo Campanale for Gizmag]

The architects said that "Working with small spaces restricts you but makes you work harder to come up with solutions. You are always pushing the envelope. Inventiveness is paramount and maximizing the possibility."

[Image Source: Edoardo Campanale for Gizmag]

One of the most impressive things about the interior design of the home is the floating concrete kitchen. There are also cupboards hidden away along with beds that can be pulled down and inside corner doors that can be slid so as to open out to zones outside of the home. The bedrooms have en-suite bathrooms and the bedroom is separated from them via a metallic curtain. Each of the bedrooms has been designed so as to be separated from each other by a bamboo garden inside the house.

[Image Source: Edoardo Campanale for Gizmag]

[Image Source: Edoardo Campanale for Gizmag]

The stunning small but rather surprisingly spacious home cost around AUD$1 million to complete.