Innholdsfortegnelse for #107 Jan-Feb 2026 i Green Magazine

Throughout the year I collect kitchens for our annual feature. It's not easy, the pool is big and many are beautiful and smart. In this issue I pulled together a selection that are highly specific to each of their particular environments and needs. From the earthy and rugged for an off-grid rural home to the quirky and clever for a tight city pad. Elsewhere we look at a passive house for an energy and comfort obsessed client, a cabin designed through reassembly of salvaged materials on Tasmania's Bruny Island, a retreat for 12 made almost entirely from raw timber and a transformed 1970s home of courtyards and roof terraces in Brunswick Heads. On Victoria's shipwreck coast we admire a garden of grasses and giant slabs of rock that are the…

MYMYMY Green energy shearing shed An off-grid home in Sutton, outside Canberra, with architecture by MYMYMY, Ochre House was designed with the spirit of simplicity and connection to place, and to be suitable for BAL-29 bushfire zoning. The grey ironbark timber-lined interiors reference shearing sheds and the saltbox shape of the form creates an asymmetry to the ceiling pitch in the kitchen dining and living space. The kitchen layout is simple, built along one side of this main living area, with an island bench, dining table beyond and living room at the far end. The whole space opens up to the deck and garden via large, double-glazed sliding doors. The kitchen is powered with solar and water comes from a reverse osmosis filtration water tank and is heated by a…

LOCATION NUENONNE COUNTRY / BRUNY ISLAND / TAS • Bruny Island (lunawanna-alonnah) is only 15 minutes by car ferry from Kettering, but as soon as wheels make landfall it feels one thousand miles away. There are two parts to Bruny, north and south, separated by the narrow isthmus of Bruny Island Neck. Here, the Truganini Lookout affords 360-degree views over the island, including Simpsons Bay to the west, and maybe the sighting of a Little Penguin, or two. It is here that architects Richard Loney and Richard Brenchley from Dock4, along with Giles Newstead from Mana, designed the house on Simpsons Bay Road, on land owned by all three. To reach the house, the road continues along the Neck, then cuts back sharply to loop around to Simpsons Bay. On…

ARCHITECT Casey Brown Architecture caseybrown.com.au PASSIVE ENERGY DESIGN The house is orientated on an east-west axis to receive sea breezes and create a sheltered western garden for winter sun. The ground floor is elevated on an electric-heated concrete slab for protection from wave surges and rising sea level. Built entirely of recycled timber with heavily insulated walls and roofs to keep out summer heat and retain winter heat. A large sun scoop directs afternoon light into the eastern portion of the double-height living spaces while acting as a thermal chimney in summer. Eastern and western decks soak up the morning and afternoon sun. Fans and controlled highlight windows draw cool air in via vertical timber vents on the southern side providing natural cooling when needed. Windows and doors are all…

Originally designed by Erik Stengade in 1967, the concrete-framed building of Thoravej 29 in Copenhagen had lived several lives – most recently as a municipal disability centre – before its transformation began. Pihlmann architects stripped it back to its essential structure: a grid of columns, beams and TT-slabs framed by long horizontal windows. To meet a new brief, the building's internal layers were dismantled and reconfigured. The existing structure became its own resource. Lightweight partitions and built-in elements were removed or relocated, while every piece taken out was catalogued for reuse – even the smallest components reconsidered as material for what came next. Floor slabs now form staircases, façade panels have been re-laid as paving, and old fittings returned as furniture. The project takes a pragmatic approach to what's already…

LOCATION BALI / INDONESIA • At the end of a crowded, dusty street, with glimpses of the ocean beyond the trees, the entrance to the venue promises ‘An immersive weekend of craft, design and culture’ in large welcoming letters. This is Jia CURATED 2025, an outdoor festival of over 200 brands that is fast becoming Southeast Asia's hottest design event. Founded by Indonesian designers Budiman Ong, Rudi Winata and Yang Yang Hartono in 2022, the event has grown quickly, and this year included art installations, an exhibition Architecture in Scale, an international talks program, a program of musical and cultural performances, and a range of food options. And, with its focus on sustainable products and use of natural materials and existing structures to create the stands themselves, it is also…

ARCHITECTS Dock4 Architects dock4architects.com.au PASSIVE ENERGY DESIGN The house is mostly oriented to the east and north with glazing to the ground floor living area. In winter the sun can penetrate well inside the living room. The internal environment is moderated by an enclosed green courtyard, maintaining constant temperatures year round. Windows and doors are positioned for effective cross breezes. The design provides comfortable living with low energy use year round. MATERIALS The ground level has a lightweight timber floor, and the main volumes are highly insulated, with a lightweight steel (recycled) and timberframed construction. The interiors feature recycled expressed steel trusses, recycled wall cladding, marine plywood sheeting to the ceilings and some walls and clear Danpal Double Wall polycarbonate sheeting to internal bedroom walls facing the courtyard. A tung…

Find products and explore our archived articles for your next renovation via greenmagazine.com.au Sustainable benchtops & cabinetry. 100% Silica free. paperock.com.au Designer high efficiency electric radiators. oblica.com.au Sustainable kitchens, Australia-wide. Plywood, timber, bamboo. selectcustomjoinery.com.au Locally made masonry products for the design community. cubicproducts.com.au HARDWAX OIL: Eco-friendly, Zero VOCs, Extremely Durable. synteko.com.au Electrify your home. Easy. goodbyegas.com.au Container home specialists. sonicsteel.com.au Adaptive Climate Architecture. Now streaming. shelter.stream Environmentally friendly insulation made from natural wood fibre. InsulateNaturally.com.au Birdbaths and water bowls designed for Australian gardens. birdbaths.malleedesign.com.au Craftsman built timber windows and doors since 1960. pickeringwindows.com.au Australian stainless steel clotheslines. Stylish reliability forever. coastalclotheslines.com.au…

Close your eyes and picture a brick. Most likely you'll be picturing a reddish, rectangular brick with sharp 90-degree angles roughly measuring the Australian standard dimensions of 230mm x 110mm x 76mm. It's big enough to be easily stacked into a stable wall, yet small enough to be launched overarm through your enemy's window (not recommended). If I were to ask Karl Bromley, Troy McKay or William Stewart to picture a brick, however, they'd probably picture something quite different – white bricks, black bricks, peach bricks, green bricks, long bricks, short bricks, bricks that bend like boomerangs. As the owners of Natural Brick, a New South Wales-based company producing artisan masonry from recycled materials, they might be picturing bricks made with seaweed, hemp or wood waste in all sorts of…

ARCHITECT Ben Callery Architects bencallery.com.au PASSIVE ENERGY DESIGN The high-performance design for a family of five emphasised passive solar design, thermally sound materials and very low energy use. The owners wanted to comfortably occupy their house not just at night and on weekends, but working from home on weekdays. The elongated form of the house along the southern side maximises passive solar gain to living rooms and most bedrooms. A high ceiling over the main living room admits sunlight, and electrically operable highlight windows draw in cooling breezes. The house features a sunny side yard instead of a back yard. A kids’ bedroom wing is accessed via a rumpus room that shares light and warmth with bedrooms to the south. A roof deck off the upper level home office provides…

LOCATION KURING-GAI COUNTRY / PATONGA/ NSW • Patonga Beach, north of Sydney, is a quiet, coastal community set within a cove where the Hawkesbury River snakes away from the ocean. Tall Norfolk pines act as sentinels along the beachfront, standing guard in front of Patonga House. The site, inherited by the current owner from his parents, once held a modest two-bedroom asbestos-laden shack. But it was the backdrop to long childhood summers spent fishing and swimming. As a place layered with personal memories, the client still returns, now with his own family in tow. The brief then was to recapture that sense of retreat while bringing in modern amenities and anticipating future needs. “There was a very strong brief around memory, but also a desire to set an example of…

ARCHITECT Fraser Mudge Architects frasermudge.com INTERIORS Fraser Mudge Architects in collaboration with We Are Triibe PASSIVE ENERGY DESIGN The house is mostly oriented to the north and east with the south-facing covered outdoor area pushed away from the house to allow winter sun to come in over the single-storey kitchen wing. Both living spaces are designed to allow for good cross ventilation. The main ensuite is designed to be an external space, providing good light and ventilation throughout the year. MATERIALS Timber-framed house on a combination of timber frame and slab on ground and suspended concrete slab. Vulcan cladding in “Nero” by Abodo. Steel Lysaght Custom Orb and Spandek roofing. Spotted gum veneer joinery. FLOORING Spotted gum and polished concrete floor finishes. GLAZING Windows are powder-coated aluminium with a combination…