This Compact Tasmanian Cabin Is a Testing Ground for Sustainable Design

When Australian architect Jiri Lev set out to design a home for his young family in Tasmania, he saw it as an opportunity to try something different. "I consider self experimentation a bit of an architect’s moral obligation and duty," he says.

Rather than relying on traditional synthetic materials, he sought out raw, locally sourced materials—sheep wool insulation and Tasmanian timber like macrocarpa pine, for example—to build a compact, sustainable, and affordable home that’s a prototype for his firm’s long-term project of developing ecovillages throughout Australia.

"Our vision is a network of small, compact urban forms surrounded by shared agricultural land and well-managed wilderness," explains Jiri. "Our small cabin demonstrates to potential investors how very comfortable homes could be built economically, utilizing local resources and best practices, and regionally informed design language."

The 280-square-foot cabin, a studio meant to be the first phase of a two- to three-bedroom home, is a modern interpretation of the country’s Georgian-period vernacular, which Jiri considers to be "the most beautiful and appropriate of Tasmanian precedents." Buildings in this style—marked by simple, rectangular structures and gable roofs—can be seen in well-preserved Tasmanian towns like Oatlands and Richmond.