austin maynard's garden house contributes to future of hi-tech dwellings

australian studio austin maynard architects introduces its garden house as an environmentally sustainable power station. seeking to contribute to the future of sustainable energy, the team designs the house to push far more energy back into the area’s shared energy grid than it uses. super modern, high-performing, and highly sustainable, garden house produces 100kwh each day while the average australian house uses 19kwh of energy per day. with its 26kwh tesla battery, the house proves to be a high-tech, inner-city oasis — the studio’s most sustainable home yet.

images by derek swalwell

located on a long and narrow street in inner-city melbourne, austin maynard architects‘ garden house is an unexpected oasis. hidden from the street and accessed via a pedestrian laneway, the new family home sits within lush established greenery. designed for a family of five with the capacity to regularly entertain dozens of people, the home comprises of four distinct elements which appear as separate buildings, ‘invisibly’ connected by mirrored glass corridors that reflect the established garden. by nature of its location and by design, garden house belies its size and scale. from the view of the street the simple and domestic scale garage appears to be the house in its entirety — a patterned, white shingled cottage with a perfect pitched roof. upon entrance, the interior reveals a much bigger space than expected.

the team at austin maynard architects designs the garden house to be flexible enough to accommodate a large family while avoiding the expression of a large home. to achieve this, the volume is broken up into four smaller scale zones — office, kitchen/living, dining, and kids area — with smart interactions. each zone is connected via mirrored glass links or bridges, reflecting the garden and essentially making them disappear, giving the impression of four separate buildings, set within lush greenery. internally there are concealed doors allowing for spaces to be opened up or sealed off.

garden house successfully functions off-grid. although designed as a high-tech dwelling, the owners didn’t want a ‘silver and white’ home filled with complex, automated gadgetry. instead, the home offers an atmosphere connected to nature through its materiality — while still being high-tech and high performing. the house is sited to the southern side of the site, to maximise the availability of northern sun throughout the home. all living areas have floor-to-ceiling windows with awnings over, to allow sun to heat the concrete floor slab in the winter months, radiating warmth throughout the day and evening. awnings and overhangs above act as passive protection to the slab in the summer months.