This home is centered on the rescue, relocation and conversion of a disused 100-year-old church into a family home.
Images of the original church, along with thoughts on the design process, can be seen in an earlier film created when the home first opened for Sustainable House Day in 2021: https://youtu.be/zD3rmEnUkYM. Most of that information remains current today.
The owners had long dreamed of buying and renovating an old church. In this case, that dream also involved transporting the building to a new suburban site closer to the city, where it now forms the heart of a new home.
The design adds two new pavilions, one at the front and one at the rear of the site. Beneath the church are an undercover swimming pool, cellar, laundry and services. A lift connects the cellar through to the loft, supporting ageing in place and accessibility.
While the construction budget is beyond what most people would spend, the home demonstrates key ideas that do not need to cost more: orienting the house for summer and winter sun, designing spaces to catch breezes, and using landscape arbours to shade the building from the east and west.
The home also includes active sustainability measures such as solar PV, home batteries, EV charging, smart wiring, mechanical ventilation to work with the high 7m ceiling, and significant underground rainwater storage with stormwater reused in the landscape.
Its most significant sustainability features are the reuse of an existing building, reducing the amount of new materials needed, limiting the new build to two smaller pavilions, and designing for flexible occupation. The home can work for a single family with a home office, or include a granny flat for extended family, co-housing or rental. It can function with anywhere from 1 to 7 bedrooms, adapting over time to changing needs.
Designed by Peter McArdle, ptma Architecture www.ptma.au
Photos: Scott Burrows Photographer
Film: Ravens at Odds (Nikolas Strugar)
