Northern Rivers NSW · Practising since 2004
Nature does the design
Passive buildings in hempcrete, strawbale, bamboo and rammed earth — comfortable through a subtropical summer with almost no energy.
R-40
Strawbale wall insulation — roughly three times a conventional framed wall
R-15
Hempcrete wall, breathable and carbon negative
2.5 hr
Fire rating on a rendered straw or hemp wall
42,000 L
On-site water storage, Canungra Strawbale House
The studio
Buildings that lie lightly
We start with the site: where the sun lands in June, where the summer breeze comes from, and what the ground will give you to build with.
Twenty years of practice across the Northern Rivers and South East Queensland, plus grassroots work in India, Peru and New Caledonia. Every house is modelled for its own climate before a wall is drawn, so it holds a stable temperature on ventilation and thermal mass rather than a compressor.
twenty years, barefoot
Materials
Four ways to build with what grows here
Each material sets its own detailing, its own thermal behaviour and its own approvals path.
Hempcrete
R-15 walls, breathable, carbon negative
Strawbale
R-40 walls, 2.5 hour fire rating
Bamboo
Fast-growing, high strength to weight
Rammed earth
Thermal mass, sourced on site
Selected work
Recent projects
Follow a few basic rules of climatic design for an area and sustainable housing becomes effortless.
Jaye Irving — Principal designer
Journal
Workshops, press and site notes
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Bamboo workshop, Far North Queensland
Five days of splitting, lashing and raising a shade structure with the community.
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Vivid Sydney — Festival of Lights
The Macula bamboo portal, lit from within, built to be dismantled and re-raised.
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Start here
Tell us about your site
Send the block, the brief and the budget. We will tell you honestly what is possible — and what it will cost to run once it is built.
