Sanctuary: Modern Green Homes

Build green, build beautiful, build affordable. Sanctuary is Australia's premier magazine for people looking to build and renovate sustainably. The magazine profiles the work of Australia’s leading environmental architects and designers and provides a wealth of ideas and advice on how to make your home more sustainable, no matter what your budget. Discover the latest design ideas and cutting-edge green technology, and tips and solutions to help you create a comfortable home for life. Each issue features lavish, full-colour spreads and floor plans for sustainable new homes and renovations. Regular topics include affordable housing ideas, design for climate, energy saving technology for the home, prefab and modular design and more. Sanctuary is published by Renew, a not-for-profit organisation that inspires, enables and advocates for people to live sustainably in their homes and communities.

Sanctuary: Modern Green Homes

Letter from the editor

PRODUCTS

REVIEWS

Sustainable House Day 2025 • Mark your calendars! On Sunday, 4 May 2025, Sustainable House Day returns, offering a unique opportunity to explore some of Australia’s most inspiring eco-friendly homes. Hosted by Renew, this annual event provides a platform for homeowners, designers, and architects to showcase practical sustainability solutions and share their experiences with the wider community.

Olive Tree House

Magpie House

Lewin Home

Renovated 1960s House

Middleton Beach House

Corvette Concretehaus

A way forward • In Hobart, a pair of affordable, replicable and nurturing homes are a prototype for sustainable social housing.

More flow, more fun • A complete overhaul of Emily and Denny’s small, dark heritage terrace in inner Sydney has improved it out of sight.

Garden gem • A diminutive build in the back garden provides a quiet retreat for a Northern Rivers family, and was a testing ground for design and construction ideas.

Life outdoors • Nestled in native forest on New Zealand’s North Island, Brett’s family home has more sheltered outdoor space than indoors.

Flipping the narrative • This Perth family threw out their original oversized volume builder plans and opted instead for a compact, healthy, sun-filled home with a big garden.

Little secret • Canny tricks, legwork and partnering with a volume builder delivered an affordable, sustainable home for this young Melbourne couple.

PUMPING UP THE VOLUME • What does choosing a project home mean for your sustainable home goals these days? Sustainable housing researcher and consultant Erika Bartak looks at how the volume build industry has changed in the last five years, and what advice still holds true for a better result.

Adapting a volume build for sustainability

RETHINKING FUTUREPROOFING • Sustainable design advocate and architect Shae Parker McCashen encourages you to challenge the conventional notion of ‘bigger is better’ when it comes to truly future-proofing your home.

GREENING THE VOLUME BUILD PATH • Ellen and Jamin are working with a volume builder to plan their dream family home, and they’d like it to be as sustainable as possible. Architect Shae Parker McCashen of Green Sheep Collective suggests some further improvements to consider.

HARMONY IN HABITAT • In this final instalment of my biophilic design series, I explore two essentials for creating homes that foster a deep connection to nature: place-based relationships and evolved human-nature relationships.

Foxglove House

Biophilic bungalow rejuvenation • Homeowners Chris and Sun Buntine are targeting ambitious performance, biodiversity and biophilic design goals for their renovation and extension project in bayside Melbourne, with the help of an expert team and input from the local...