Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

This Energy-Efficient Prefab Is One Family’s Weekend Retreat by the Beach

This Energy-Efficient Prefab Is One Family’s Weekend Retreat by the Beach

In designing a getaway for her own family, architect Hannah Tribe created a sustainable kit home that’s as breezy as it looks.

This weekend home south of Sydney is more than just an escape for architect Hannah Tribe and her family. Situated at the edge of Royal National Park in the beachside hamlet of Bundeena, the design by Hannah, principal and founder of Tribe Studio Architects, is also a prototype for a new kind of kit home.



Architect Hannah Tribe designed her family’s holiday home-a nod to the fisher cottages in the area-using prefab technologies. "We moved away from modular," explains Hannah, "because New South Wales has steep, windy roads which can make modular tricky, and kit construction provides opportunities for more local labor, supporting regional communities."

Looking at it from the street, the roughly 540-square-foot design presents itself modestly enough. Its minimalist timber-clad exterior nods to local vernacular, keeping with fishing cottages prevalent in the region that stand in large gardens with their rectilinear forms. Hannah’s innovations-and this is where the Bundeena home parts ways with the buildings of yore-are primarily concerned with economy of materials, energy efficiency, and sustainability, which allow the design to be replicated affordably and with ease in a variety of settings.

Everything relies on a "strict mathematic logic," says Hannah. Although she doesn’t dive into the numbers, the design starts with a concrete slab, and a modular timber frame that rises roughly 17 feet without the support of structural steel. Hannah could have expanded the home’s tight footprint and added a second level to capture water views, but that would have betrayed the area’s aesthetics.



The family-friendly design can host up to 12 people and is sturdy enough to withstand "salt and sand," says Hannah.



It doesn’t take much to heat the entire home, but on chillier days, a French Philippe Chemise fireplace does the trick.



"This house is a retreat from busy city lives that encourages a slower way of living by the beach," explains Hannah. "It is a garden- and cooking-focused holiday home and a place where children and adults are connected." The painting is by Australian artist Gemma Smith.



The open kitchen is perfect for Hannah and her family, who love cooking for crowds.

"We could have had glorious views from a second story," Hannah explains. "However, we felt that reinforcing the local vernacular of single story timber cottages was important, and that an introspective garden diagram was preferable to outward looking in this context."

A second level would have also worked against Hannah’s initial concept, she says. And with a single level, it meant she could focus on energy efficiency.



The electric-blue dining chairs are vintage school chairs sourced by Hannah. The rounded pendant light hanging over the dining table is by Muuto and the sculptural wall lighting is Le Corbusier’s Nemo.



The U-shaped floor plan wraps around a sunny central courtyard.



Hannah engaged landscape architect Christopher Owen to enhance the garden. His plan fosters native and endemic species that attract bird life, including kookaburras, tawny frogmouths, cockatoos, fairy wrens, and sea eagles.

Passive heating and cooling are achieved through the thermal mass of the concrete slab, and by siting the house to allow breezes to flow through its floor-to-ceiling sliders. Windows facing east, north, and west feature adjustable shading to reduce solar gain, while ceiling fans in the bedrooms provide a little extra airflow. All windows are double glazed, and the walls, although lightweight, are heavily insulated.

An extensive 5-kW photovoltaic array attached to the roof provides energy to the home, while a rainwater recycling system harvests water for the bathrooms, washing machine, and a garden irrigation system.

Hannah also made an effort to choose recycled materials and plantation timbers, and low- or no-VOC paints and finishes. The home’s water is heated with solar, and energy-efficient LED lighting runs throughout.



One of the adult bedrooms opens to the courtyard.



Awnings positioned over north-facing windows reduce solar gain, so there’s no need for air conditioning. Ceiling fans provide light airflow in the bedrooms.

In plan, the U-shaped home wraps around a sunny central courtyard that faces a rear garden to the north. Inside are two adult bedrooms, and a kids’ room with beds and built-in sofas can sleep up to six. Instead of a mudroom, a laundry-and-bathroom combo in the entry is "a deliberate sand trap" for beach towels, wetsuits, and shoes-an appropriate substitute given the home is sited just 350 feet from the beach.



The bathroom features a skylight and rose-colored terrazzo.



One of the kids’ rooms features built-in shelving.

All in, the family-friendly design can host 12 people, "including lots of kids and dogs," says Hannah. The home’s full-height doors create an indoor/outdoor connection between the garden, the living spaces, and the interior courtyard. It’s also designed to be sturdy enough to accommodate the family’s sporty leisure activities, and "to withstand the salt and sand," as Hannah puts it. "[We do] lots of swimming and paddle boarding and kayaking and walking in the bush."

By putting the home on a slab, Hannah has created a stepless design, allowing her to eventually age in place or accommodate guests with limited mobility. "This house is an attempt to achieve a high level of architectural and sustainable outcomes at a low cost," says Hannah. "It is an experiment in delivering a more thoughtful kit home."



An external wall frames a beautiful existing Queensland bottle tree.



An outdoor shower allows everyone to rinse off alfresco after a long day at the beach.



Bundeena House Floor Plan

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
Wave of Complaints Against Apple Over iPhone 17 Pro’s Scratch Sensitivity
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Trump Says Ukraine Can Fully Restore Borders with NATO Backing
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
×