Gladstone

The renovation of this 100-year-old lean-to cottage in Yarraville began with a genuine leap of faith. Passionate about sustainability, the owners spent a full year partially demolishing the small house by themselves — hand-salvaging and cleaning around 800 Melbourne red bricks from the original courtyard to be given new life inside the home. Working alongside James Goodlet at Altereco, they set out with one clear intention: to design a house built "to be here in another 100 years, for whoever comes after us."

At a modest 100 square metres, the footprint itself wasn't ambitious in scale, but the owners' enthusiasm for sustainable living shaped every decision. The salvaged bricks became a striking feature wall in the living area, prized for their rich thermal mass as much as their history and texture. Overhead, the high ceiling made room for clever built-in storage, including an overhead bookshelf that keeps the small footprint feeling open rather than cramped.

The standout feature is the green roof above the kitchen and living area, planted with water-wise native species. It creates valuable outdoor space on an otherwise tight site, offers unexpected glimpses of greenery through clerestory windows, and adds a layer of insulation to the rooms below. Supporting that green roof while also exposing the timber structure and beams in the lounge beneath was, as James puts it, "a feat of engineering" — one that called for a fair amount of additional loading capacity to get right.

The home runs entirely on electricity, powered by a 4.5kW solar system and a heat pump that supplies both hydronic heating and hot water. Smart technology does much of the heavy lifting: electronic timers schedule the dishwasher, washing machine, sprinklers and water heater to run when solar power is most abundant, while a voice-activated, geofencing-enabled thermostat keeps the home comfortable without excess energy use. A gadget monitoring indoor air quality lets residents know when it's time to ventilate, and around 40 indoor plants, chosen for their air-filtering properties, complete the home's living systems. In the kitchen, benchtops made from 75 percent recycled glass, mirror, porcelain and earthenware round out the sustainable material palette.