Subtle Shift 2025

Subtle Shift

A Sustainable Home: Smart Moves for Families

Bigger isn’t always better—especially when it comes to sustainable homes. Many believe the key to an eco-friendly house is reducing operational energy use, but amount and environmental impacts of materials and resources used in construction also have a huge impact on the planet.

The biggest sustainability challenge? Size. A larger home easily gets a high energy rating, but a compact, well-designed home has a lower carbon footprint, uses fewer resources and is cheaper to run. The future of sustainable housing is not about extending or rebuilding—it’s about smarter design, better use of space, and responsible material choices.

Take this Californian Bungalow: initially built in three stages, the home was disjointed, it had underused and wasted spaces on one side, cramped areas like the kitchen on the other, and poor connectivity throughout. Instead of extending, we reconfigured the layout, and connected spaces to make every little part of the home work better.

We…
Reconfigured kitchen and combined with hallways to create a central family hub.
Removed walls and levelled the floor, seamlessly connecting spaces.
Created multifunctional areas, including a breakfast nook, storage, and a cozy conversation pit.
Split the underused bathroom into a functional bathroom/ laundry and a small guest room/study—an extra space of retreat for the family or visitors.

And of course, we maximised energy efficiency by implementing the following features:
Highly insulated floors, walls, and ceilings.
Double-glazed timber windows for better temperature control.
FSC-certified timbers and a fossil-free home.

The result? A more sustainable, affordable, and very comfortable family-friendly home without without increasing its footprint and floor area. Small moves can make a big difference.

Join us on Sustainable House Day for a talk by Steffen Welsch on “Sustainability = Affordability”, followed by a tour and Q&A.