Lia’s Futurecave, with Joost Bakker
Joost is a tireless innovator. He has a way of inventing things that seem completely mad until you realise they make perfect sense and in fact, it might be everyone else who is mad for making buildings as though we had a spare planet in our back pocket.
Joost stoked me to imagine what the world might be like if every new home created rewilding habitat, sequestered carbon dioxide, was resistant to bushfire, and provided enough energy, food and water to support a family while generating zero waste.
This home is a fundamental rethinking of how we construct buildings to create a future where the creation of human habitats heals us and heals our planet.
Design: Joost Bakker & Frank Burridge
Engineering: TGA Engineers
Built: Outlook Building Services, Joost Bakker
Rocks & Hardscaping: R&A Bibo
Off-grid electrical system: YB Electrical
Vermiculture septic: WormWorx
Photography: Frank Burridge
Energy: off-grid solar with nickel-iron battery storage
Water: off-grid capture from rooftop
Blackwater: off-grid vermiculture system that feeds nutrients back into the garden
Engineering: TGA Engineers
Built: Outlook Building Services, Joost Bakker
Rocks & Hardscaping: R&A Bibo
Off-grid electrical system: YB Electrical
Vermiculture septic: WormWorx
Photography: Frank Burridge
Energy: off-grid solar with nickel-iron battery storage
Water: off-grid capture from rooftop
Blackwater: off-grid vermiculture system that feeds nutrients back into the garden
This means the roof detains stormwater, reducing flood risk and relieving pressure from the civic stormwater system.
Water is the best insulator, providing acoustic and thermal benefits. The soil roof protects the building from radiant heat and embers in a bushfire. The house remains remarkably cool on the hottest of summer days.
This photo was taken before the roof was planted with flowers that support native bees, butterflies and the endangered yellow-helmeted honeyeater bird.
The house is built upside down — the weight of the soil on the roof acts as a ballast, removing the need to pin the building down with concrete footings, saving cost and C02 emissions. Money that would normally go to concrete in the ground can go toward soil and plants for the roof. The construction site is a garden from day 3.
The standard external wall panels conform to industry standard 1200mm centres, meaning zero offcuts, reducing construction waste and making installation very rapid.
Offcuts from internal wall linings and ceilings are made from straw and are used in the compost. There was no site skip bin on this build and no waste taken to landfill.
The facade is coated with a cork-based product made from the leftover cork in the production of wine bottle corks. With the addition of lime and diatamaceous earth, the facade is naturally anti-fungal and mould resistant, while being completely natural and toxin-free.
Offcuts from internal wall linings and ceilings are made from straw and are used in the compost. There was no site skip bin on this build and no waste taken to landfill.
The facade is coated with a cork-based product made from the leftover cork in the production of wine bottle corks. With the addition of lime and diatamaceous earth, the facade is naturally anti-fungal and mould resistant, while being completely natural and toxin-free.
The awesome checkered splashbacks are made by Lachlan Chapman from broken skateboards.