clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Budget-conscious modern home makes the case for efficient construction

The design embraces prefab concrete panels and plywood

By Liz Stinson
A single-story house featuring dark panel cladding and a cut-out opening to the interior, which is lined in plywood. Ryan Jellyman.

As designers like to say, constraints lead to creativity. And in the case of this modern house in New South Wales, Australia, it’s absolutely true. Designed by Studio Jackson Scott, the single-story house was built around prefabricated concrete panels that dictated the proportions of the layout.

Budget and construction time were also top of mind for the architects. “In a country where building costs are among the highest in the world, efficiency of construction can substantially reduce the cost of a build,” designer Scott Jackson told Dezeen. “We had to think carefully about how to construct this building to ensure that design intent remained strong while construction details and methods remained simple.”

Wooden planks make up the floor, walls, and ceiling of a porch, which opens into the living room lined in plywood. The room features a black ceiling fan, black lounge chair, and tan rug. Ryan Jellyman
The living room features plywood walls throughout, a black sofa in the distance, a small round dining table with four chairs in the foreground. A cerulean and white artwork hangs on the right wall. Ryan Jellyman

Black concrete fiber panels flank create a dark, monochromatic facade, while a hardwood-lined cut-out creates room for a front porch. Inside, the house makes use of another economical material with locally-sourced plywood lining the walls and ceilings. The architects finished the kitchen and bathrooms with dark paint, cementing (no pun intended) the “dark vs. light” contrast found on the outside of the house.

A kitchen with plywood walls, cabinetry, island, counters, bar seating, and a recessed area covered in black tiles, which contains the sink and oven. The room has two windows looking to the outside. Ryan Jellyman

Next Up In Architecture