An Off-Grid Prefab Home Slides Wide Open to the Australian Bush
The self-sufficient Courtyard House embraces the bush landscape in all directions.
The self-sufficient Courtyard House embraces the bush landscape in all directions.
With over 30 years of experience in construction and development, Tony Olding believes he has seen the future of Australia’s building industry—and he’s doubling down on prefab.
To help drive the country toward eco-friendly prefabricated homes, Olding launched FABPREFAB in 2016, and he teamed up with Sydney-based architecture firm CHROFI to create one of his first modular models: the Courtyard House. The home is a modern take on traditional rural homes in Australia, and it’s able to operate entirely off the grid.
The two-bedroom, two-bath Courtyard House is located in a clearing in the New South Wales coastal suburb of Hawks Nest, just a few minutes’ drive from the beach.
Clinton Weaver
"Courtyard House is our first prefabricated housing project, but we’ve always been interested in the idea of efficiency in the use of space and material," says CHROFI partner Tai Ropiha. The firm designed the home as a set of four modules—a living space, veranda, bedroom, and central bridge/hallway—along with a sliding timber screen.
A natural materials palette ties the building into its scenic surrounds. The hardwood facade features spotted gum cladding with a Woca Silver finish.
Clinton Weaver
The modules were built to 90% completion inside a factory—fittings, fixtures, tiles, and more were installed before the units were trucked to the site and placed atop the foundation in five hours.
Clinton Weaver
See the full story on Dwell.com: An Off-Grid Prefab Home Slides Wide Open to the Australian Bush
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