Albert Park
Project Overview
After seventeen years designing homes for others, this was the first opportunity to design one for our own family:Â a home that distils everything we believe about architecture, sustainability and craft into a single project on a tight urban site in Albert Park.
The structural system draws inspiration from traditional shipbuilding: a glulam post and beam timber frame that acts as a skeleton, supporting a high-performance insulated envelope. Each hardwood post and beam was CNC-machined, pre-oiled off-site and manually assembled on site using stainless steel pins and laser-cut steel plates. This approach allowed precision prefabrication on a constrained inner-Melbourne site.
The home is designed to meet Passive House Plus certification. It is fully all-electric with a 6.6 kW solar PV system, triple-glazed aluminium-clad windows, continuous airtight membranes and a Zehnder heat recovery ventilation system providing constant filtered fresh air. The concrete slab uses low-COâ‚‚ GGBS cement and insulated screed to reduce embodied energy, while the timber structure stores carbon rather than emitting it.
Ship-like joinery, exposed beams, porthole windows and carefully framed views of sky and light give the interior a warmth and character that reflects how we wanted our family to live: comfortably, sustainably, and in a home built to last.
Project Details
- Location: Albert Park, Melbourne
- Project Type: New Home — Architect’s Own Residence
- Certification: Passive House Plus (targeted)
- Construction: Glulam post & beam, Bondor insulated panels
- Completed: 2024
- Builder: Feature Properties — David Brewer
- Engineer: TGA Engineers — Rob Nestic
- Timber Fabrication: STFAB
- Energy Assessor: Prorate Energy
Our Home on National TV
- Featured on Open Homes Australia in July 2025
- For more project videos click here:Â Videos
Context and Design
Heritage and Seaside Location
This home sits on a narrow site in Albert Park, one of Melbourne’s most established inner suburbs. It is an historic maritime area and that connection and my love of the sea and boats inspired the design for our family ark.Â
The design responds to heritage overlay constraints, a compact footprint and the need to deliver generous, light-filled living spaces within a tightly bounded urban context.
About the DesignÂ
The interior is organised around the exposed glulam timber frame, which is left visible as both structure and finish.Â
The rhythm of these portals define the spaces and functions. This perimeter framing draws the eye to the edges of each volume and creates a sense of spaciousness. Â
The warmth, tactility and golden tones of the hardwood elements create a calm cosy ambience and a sense of solidity and considered crafted construction.
Porthole windows, curved joinery details and ship-like timber detailing reflect a maritime inspiration drawn from traditional framed boat building. The house follows a structural logic of skeleton framing and skin translated into architecture.
Natural light is carefully managed through orientation, glazing placement and shading. North-facing triple-glazed windows capture winter warmth while external shading prevents summer overheating. Views are framed deliberately; of sky, trees and neighbouring rooflines so that each window feels considered rather than incidental.
Performance
The home is designed to be quiet, comfortable and remarkably low in energy use. Filtered fresh air is supplied continuously by the heat recovery ventilation system, and indoor temperatures remain stable year-round without reliance on conventional heating and cooling.
After more than a year and a half of living here, the daily experience has confirmed what the modelling predicted: consistent comfort, clean air, low bills and a home that simply works.
Construction Process
Method:Â Glu-lam Post & Beam with SIPs
The primary structure is a glulam post and beam timber frame, fabricated from sustainable Australian plantation hardwood. Each beam was precision-machined using CNC milling, pre-finished with natural oil and delivered to site ready for assembly. The frame was designed to be manually lifted into position without a crane which was essential on a tight Albert Park site with limited access.
Connections use stainless steel pins and laser-cut steel plates, detailed to be both structurally efficient and visually clean where joints are exposed in the finished interior. The design draws on the logic of traditional shipbuilding, where a skeleton frame supports a lightweight enclosing skin; in this case, a high-performance insulated envelope.
The boundary walls use Bondor insulated, fire-rated composite panels, pre-cut to dimension and crane-lifted into place over two days. This rapid enclosure strategy allowed the building to be made weathertight quickly, protecting the internal works from Melbourne’s unpredictable conditions and creating the airtightness layer. Â
All junctions were sealed with airtightness tape and membrane strips as construction progressed;Â not as an afterthought. This sequential approach to the airtight layer is critical to achieving Passive House performance and requires careful coordination between the architect, builder and trades throughout the build.
The project was delivered by David Brewer of Feature Properties, with structural engineering by Rob Nestic of TGA Engineers and timber fabrication by STFAB.
Prefabrication and MMC
What is Glulam Post and Beam Construction?
The primary structure of this home is a glulam post and beam timber frame. This is a Modern method of Construction MMC and this particular system uses prefabricated glue-laminated hardwood columns and beams to form a visible skeleton that carries the building loads, freeing the walls to act purely as an insulated, airtight envelope.
Why Engineered Timber?
We chose engineered timber for this project for the same reasons we advocate it for our clients. Timber is renewable, stores carbon for the life of the building and has dramatically lower embodied energy than steel or concrete construction. It is also beautiful. The warmth, tactility and golden tones of exposed hardwood create interiors that feel fundamentally different from homes built with conventional materials.
Glulam allowed us to achieve long spans and open-plan living spaces without the visual weight of steel beams or the environmental cost of steel or reinforced concrete. Combined with Bondor insulated boundary wall panels and a continuous airtight membrane, the timber frame integrates naturally with the high-performance Passive House envelope. This minimises thermal bridging and supporting the precision detailing that certification demands.
This method is also lighter in weight than steel or concrete so it saves on footings size, materials and cost. Â
For more on how we use engineered timber across our projects, see our engineered timber page.
Concepts and Design Process
The design concept began with a question: how do you build a high-performance, deeply personal family home on a narrow inner-Melbourne site within heritage and planning constraints?
The answer drew on an unexpected source: traditional framed shipbuilding. A ship’s hull is a skeleton of ribs supporting a lightweight, watertight skin. This project applies the same logic of boats and wharves: a visible glulam post and beam frame acts as the structural skeleton, with an insulated, airtight envelope wrapped around it. The frame is the architecture and it defines the spatial character of every room.
The design was developed using three-dimensional interactive modelling, which allowed us to coordinate the timber joinery, spatial transitions and off-site fabrication requirements before anything was cut. Every beam, connection and panel was modelled digitally and then precision-manufactured. This process is closer to furniture-making than conventional construction.
We sought to maximise space and storage but we prioritised the experience of living in the home. Each room is arranged around light, views and connection. Sky and treelines are framed through portholes and clerestory windows. All main living spaces and bedrooms have dual orientation for even light that changes through the day and across the seasons.Â
Consideration has been given to every detail giving the home the character of an intricate jewellery box or highly crafted piece of handmade furniture. The warmth and tactility of timber is ever present and creates a calm cosy and natural ambience. Â
Sustainability and Passive House Performance
This home is designed to meet Passive House Plus certification. It targets an energy demand so low that it can generate more renewable energy annually than it consumes — making it a net energy contributor rather than a consumer.
The key Passive House measures include:
Triple-glazed aluminium-clad windows selected and positioned based on PHPP solar gain modelling, with external shading to prevent summer overheating on exposed orientations.
A continuous airtight membrane sealed at every junction, penetration and interface throughout the building envelope. Airtightness was treated as a construction discipline, not a retrofit, with membranes and tapes installed progressively as the build advanced.
A Zehnder Q350 heat recovery ventilation system providing constant filtered fresh air to every room while recovering warmth from exhaust air. This maintains excellent indoor air quality year-round without opening windows — reducing dust, pollen, allergens and external noise.
A fully all-electric design with no gas connection. A 6.6 kW rooftop solar PV system generates the home’s electricity, with the Passive House envelope ensuring demand remains low enough for the solar to cover operational needs.
The concrete ground slab uses low-COâ‚‚ GGBS cement and an insulated screed system to reduce embodied energy in the foundations which are one of the most carbon-intensive elements of any building.
The glulam timber structure itself is a carbon store. Unlike steel or concrete, which release carbon during manufacture, sustainably sourced timber sequesters carbon for the life of the building. Combined with low-VOC materials throughout the interior, the home is designed to be healthy for both its occupants and the environment.
Low embodied energy in construction, low operational energy in use. This is the same standard we apply to every project.
Read more about Passive House in our full guide here. Â
Project Videos
We have compiled detailed videos of the project from concept to completion. Â
Click to visit our youtube channel. Â
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