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News.com.au
20 hours ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Shock as crumbling beach shack named 2025 House of the Year
In a plot twist no one saw coming, a crumbling childhood holiday shack has been named the 2025 Australian House of the Year after a stunning transformation. Blok Three Sisters by Blok Modular with Vokes and Peters has taken out the top prize in the 2025 Houses Awards for its innovative approach to a unique problem – creating three jawdropping homes for a trio of sisters where they spent their childhood summers. The vision behind the design and its implementation saw it heralded as the future of Australian housing – representing the type of 'stealth density' required in a time of housing shortage, turning one crumbling house into multiple designer homes. At first glance it does still look like one house, but it is three full homes side-by-side on North Stradbroke – each with their own courtyards, breezeways and laid-back vibe The homes weren't even built on-site, having been prefabricated in Brisbane and shipped to the fragile island environment to save time, money and environmental impact. The Houses Awards jury was blown away, with their citation positively gushing over the property. 'A single beach house in a state of disrepair has been replaced with three new residences, permitting the next generations of the same family to make their own memories here,' the citation said. 'Blok Three Sisters is an inventive design that finds a compelling balance between pragmatism and ambition. 'The design looks to the past to recall what makes a great holiday house, while broadening the possibilities of prefabrication as an alternative construction method that is better equipped for our future.' Shock as lenders slash rates to lowest level in 2 years It said the units were arranged side-by-side, with a simple flip in the plan of one unit achieving subtle variation in the facade, 'gently disguising its modularity'. 'Australia needs more exemplars of stealth density that demonstrate how our freestanding residences might gradually evolve to accommodate more dwellings, without sacrifice to individual or neighbourhood amenity,' the jury citation said. 'The jury felt this terrace-like, modular design was not only a successful response to this laid-back coastal setting, but also a worthy and replicable model for co-living that could be readily adapted to sites in urban and suburban settings.'
The Guardian
7 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Australia's house of the year goes to a prefab beach shack trio on Stradbroke Island
Split it, sell it, or find a way of keeping it in the family? That's the question three sisters asked themselves when they inherited a property, built by their parents in the 1970s, on a plot of land near Home beach on Minjerribah/North Stradbroke Island. The sisters had been holidaying at the house since they were children, and the site was 'almost impossible to replicate', says one sibling, who asked to remain anonymous. 'We decided quite quickly we didn't want to get rid of it,' she says. As the older building had been eaten by mycelium, the hard part was deciding what to do with it next. When the architect Daniel Burnett from Brisbane's Blok Modular viewed the house to discuss the owners' vision for three units, the sisters took him to the beach, where they all got in their bathers and 'sat around in the water for about two hours', he says. Along with sharing memories, they made one request: equitable access to the beach – 'or we're going to have fights'. 'No matter how old you get, the sibling dynamic is still present,' he says. 'They were quite unapologetic about that.' Forming a committee of sorts, the sisters (who are in their 60s) assessed every design decision as one. 'It was a unified force,' says Burnett. The result is a trio of two-storey terraces identical by design, from the hardwood floors to the light fixtures. Each three-bedroom, two-bathroom unit was designed so the occupants would feel immersed in nature, says Burnett. 'You can sit anywhere in that building – even though it's a long skinny house – and feel like you're on the beach,' he says. Sign up for our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning 'It's magic,' says one sister. 'Right now I'm looking out over the sea watching the whales go by.' Awareness of the natural environment extended to the home's disaster-preparedness. Windows had to be triple glazed to fit fire zone safety requirements, for example, which the sisters say adds to the sense of privacy in each individual house. 'Inside with the windows closed, you can't hear anyone else,' says the sister. Blok Three Sisters was named house of the year in 2025's Houses awards. It's an example of 'stealth density', says the architect John Ellway, one of the jurors. 'You can see how the ideas in this [project] could be replicated and rolled out in a lot of different places.' It could be used for 'three families, three generations, or three friends. That's what stood out for us,' Ellway says. Designing each unit the same way, down to the furnishings, was a practical choice. 'The more you customise, the higher the price gets,' says the sister. To decide which sibling got which property, they 'went out to dinner and drew lots'. They knew they wanted a prefabricated modular build because they'd seen how quick and efficient it could be. 'Doing everything you can possibly do in a controlled environment reduces the disruption for delicate ecosystems,' like Stradbroke Island's, says Burnett, who partnered with architect Stuart Vokes from Brisbane's Vokes and Peters and builders Pagewood Projects to create modules that would be delivered and assembled on location. 'You can be a bit more ambitious about what you're building because you're not hanging off a ladder in the afternoon sun, and you can utilise the cranes and sophisticated machinery that's installed in the factory rather than available on the back of a ute,' he says. Local plumbers and electricians were employed to connect the building to services, and a small team was sent to complete cosmetic joins between the modules. But otherwise the homes are fully finished in the factory: 'Every window, door, tile, joinery, tap, all the flooring.' Built to budget and with readily available materials, it shows 'a good project doesn't necessarily have to be this luxurious flashy thing', says Ellway. 'Given that it's prefab and modular, the other thing [the jury] acknowledged is that if the need came to move it, they could lift it up and take it somewhere else,' or raise the properties a metre off the ground. 'The modular build gave us timing certainty,' says the sister, as they first engaged with the architects shortly after Covid. The buildings were completed within a year. 'I think this project is exciting because it demonstrates a model for housing density,' says Burnett. 'It shows it's possible to make multi-storey, multi-residential housing in a factory at a very high standard that could be applied to other models, like social housing,' he says. The architectural design 'helps us maximise the magic', says the sister. 'Sitting on that double-height deck, looking toward the beach, laying on the couch reading a book, is really very beautiful.' At Christmas and Easter, all three siblings and their families come together on the big lawn on the beach side of the property. 'When we live in it, we face the beach, that lawn,' she says. 'That's our face to the world.'
Sydney Morning Herald
7 days ago
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
Straddie's prefab palace: How a modular marvel became Australia's top house
When architects Daniel Burnett and Stuart Vokes went to North Stradbroke Island in 2021 to meet with some prospective clients, they found a crumbling 1970s beach shack overlooking Home Beach. Three sisters who had grown up holidaying there wanted it rebuilt as a place where all three of their families could continue to enjoy the location and have equal access to the water. 'They said, 'You've seen the site, let's go to the most important bit.' 'We walked through the dunes to the beach and lay in the waves with them for a couple of hours. 'It was a wonderful meeting, and the end they said, 'you've got the job.'' The resulting building, a trio of three-bedroom terrace homes named Blok Three Sisters, was just awarded Australian House of the Year at the 2025 Houses Awards. It also won the award for the best Apartment or Unit. A project of Blok Modular with Vokes and Peters, the building was prefabricated from steel and timber in 12 modules at the Blok Modular factory in Carole Park and transported on trucks via the MV Minjerribah ferry.
The Age
7 days ago
- General
- The Age
Straddie's prefab palace: How a modular marvel became Australia's top house
When architects Daniel Burnett and Stuart Vokes went to North Stradbroke Island in 2021 to meet with some prospective clients, they found a crumbling 1970s beach shack overlooking Home Beach. Three sisters who had grown up holidaying there wanted it rebuilt as a place where all three of their families could continue to enjoy the location and have equal access to the water. 'They said, 'You've seen the site, let's go to the most important bit.' 'We walked through the dunes to the beach and lay in the waves with them for a couple of hours. 'It was a wonderful meeting, and the end they said, 'you've got the job.'' The resulting building, a trio of three-bedroom terrace homes named Blok Three Sisters, was just awarded Australian House of the Year at the 2025 Houses Awards. It also won the award for the best Apartment or Unit. A project of Blok Modular with Vokes and Peters, the building was prefabricated from steel and timber in 12 modules at the Blok Modular factory in Carole Park and transported on trucks via the MV Minjerribah ferry.
The Advertiser
7 days ago
- The Advertiser
Prefab house ferried to island by night wins top award
A prefabricated house ferried to its island location by barge in the middle of the night has won a national architecture award. The Australian House of the Year in the 2025 Houses Awards has gone to a project that's actually three homes in one, a design named Blok Three Sisters, on North Stradbroke Island, off the coast of Brisbane. The development had to accommodate three sisters in their 60s, as well as their children and grandchildren after their much-loved 1970s holiday house was infested with mycelium and became uninhabitable. The designers had to avoid the possibility of sibling rivalry over which residence was closest to the beach and settled on a terrace with a central courtyard area, so the three houses are able to function as one big holiday home at Christmas and Easter. Building on the island is expensive due to a lack of local tradies and the cost of transporting materials from the mainland, so the project was constructed in a Brisbane factory over six months and delivered to the island in six modules via ferry. The builders hired an island car barge over two nights from midnight till 4am and had to be finished in time for the barge to resume its usual daily duties at 6am. The hours weren't great but it was enough time for two semi-trailers carrying giant sections of the building (the biggest measuring 15 metres long) to make three trips across each night. The sections were then put in place on the site near Home Beach over two days, with prefabrication offsite making the building process about 50 per cent faster than a traditional build. The architecture is an example of "stealth density" according to Blok Modular director Daniel Burnett: seen from the front, the three homes are the same height and width as the old house, while each part of the building opens out to its surroundings. "You've got this sense that you're just sitting in a little bathing shack on the dunes," he said. "You're completely immersed in this environment." The project was an emotional one for the three sisters, whose parents built the original house and have since passed away. The siblings are more than pleased with the finished product, while prefabricating the house on the mainland also meant the construction process was easier on the coastal ecosystem, including the nearby wetlands. "Building traditionally on a site like this, all of the pollution and toxicity and noise and rubbish, all of those impacts of construction were taken away from the site and put into a purpose built factory in Brisbane that was designed to handle those things," said Burnett. A cabin built on stilts amongst gum trees, Sawmill Treehouse in Victoria by designer Robbie Walker, was named best New House Under 200 Square Metres. A vine-wrapped suburban Melbourne home, Hedge and Arbour House by Studio Bright, won New House Over 200 Square Metres. A prefabricated house ferried to its island location by barge in the middle of the night has won a national architecture award. The Australian House of the Year in the 2025 Houses Awards has gone to a project that's actually three homes in one, a design named Blok Three Sisters, on North Stradbroke Island, off the coast of Brisbane. The development had to accommodate three sisters in their 60s, as well as their children and grandchildren after their much-loved 1970s holiday house was infested with mycelium and became uninhabitable. The designers had to avoid the possibility of sibling rivalry over which residence was closest to the beach and settled on a terrace with a central courtyard area, so the three houses are able to function as one big holiday home at Christmas and Easter. Building on the island is expensive due to a lack of local tradies and the cost of transporting materials from the mainland, so the project was constructed in a Brisbane factory over six months and delivered to the island in six modules via ferry. The builders hired an island car barge over two nights from midnight till 4am and had to be finished in time for the barge to resume its usual daily duties at 6am. The hours weren't great but it was enough time for two semi-trailers carrying giant sections of the building (the biggest measuring 15 metres long) to make three trips across each night. The sections were then put in place on the site near Home Beach over two days, with prefabrication offsite making the building process about 50 per cent faster than a traditional build. The architecture is an example of "stealth density" according to Blok Modular director Daniel Burnett: seen from the front, the three homes are the same height and width as the old house, while each part of the building opens out to its surroundings. "You've got this sense that you're just sitting in a little bathing shack on the dunes," he said. "You're completely immersed in this environment." The project was an emotional one for the three sisters, whose parents built the original house and have since passed away. The siblings are more than pleased with the finished product, while prefabricating the house on the mainland also meant the construction process was easier on the coastal ecosystem, including the nearby wetlands. "Building traditionally on a site like this, all of the pollution and toxicity and noise and rubbish, all of those impacts of construction were taken away from the site and put into a purpose built factory in Brisbane that was designed to handle those things," said Burnett. A cabin built on stilts amongst gum trees, Sawmill Treehouse in Victoria by designer Robbie Walker, was named best New House Under 200 Square Metres. A vine-wrapped suburban Melbourne home, Hedge and Arbour House by Studio Bright, won New House Over 200 Square Metres. A prefabricated house ferried to its island location by barge in the middle of the night has won a national architecture award. The Australian House of the Year in the 2025 Houses Awards has gone to a project that's actually three homes in one, a design named Blok Three Sisters, on North Stradbroke Island, off the coast of Brisbane. The development had to accommodate three sisters in their 60s, as well as their children and grandchildren after their much-loved 1970s holiday house was infested with mycelium and became uninhabitable. The designers had to avoid the possibility of sibling rivalry over which residence was closest to the beach and settled on a terrace with a central courtyard area, so the three houses are able to function as one big holiday home at Christmas and Easter. Building on the island is expensive due to a lack of local tradies and the cost of transporting materials from the mainland, so the project was constructed in a Brisbane factory over six months and delivered to the island in six modules via ferry. The builders hired an island car barge over two nights from midnight till 4am and had to be finished in time for the barge to resume its usual daily duties at 6am. The hours weren't great but it was enough time for two semi-trailers carrying giant sections of the building (the biggest measuring 15 metres long) to make three trips across each night. The sections were then put in place on the site near Home Beach over two days, with prefabrication offsite making the building process about 50 per cent faster than a traditional build. The architecture is an example of "stealth density" according to Blok Modular director Daniel Burnett: seen from the front, the three homes are the same height and width as the old house, while each part of the building opens out to its surroundings. "You've got this sense that you're just sitting in a little bathing shack on the dunes," he said. "You're completely immersed in this environment." The project was an emotional one for the three sisters, whose parents built the original house and have since passed away. The siblings are more than pleased with the finished product, while prefabricating the house on the mainland also meant the construction process was easier on the coastal ecosystem, including the nearby wetlands. "Building traditionally on a site like this, all of the pollution and toxicity and noise and rubbish, all of those impacts of construction were taken away from the site and put into a purpose built factory in Brisbane that was designed to handle those things," said Burnett. A cabin built on stilts amongst gum trees, Sawmill Treehouse in Victoria by designer Robbie Walker, was named best New House Under 200 Square Metres. A vine-wrapped suburban Melbourne home, Hedge and Arbour House by Studio Bright, won New House Over 200 Square Metres. A prefabricated house ferried to its island location by barge in the middle of the night has won a national architecture award. The Australian House of the Year in the 2025 Houses Awards has gone to a project that's actually three homes in one, a design named Blok Three Sisters, on North Stradbroke Island, off the coast of Brisbane. The development had to accommodate three sisters in their 60s, as well as their children and grandchildren after their much-loved 1970s holiday house was infested with mycelium and became uninhabitable. The designers had to avoid the possibility of sibling rivalry over which residence was closest to the beach and settled on a terrace with a central courtyard area, so the three houses are able to function as one big holiday home at Christmas and Easter. Building on the island is expensive due to a lack of local tradies and the cost of transporting materials from the mainland, so the project was constructed in a Brisbane factory over six months and delivered to the island in six modules via ferry. The builders hired an island car barge over two nights from midnight till 4am and had to be finished in time for the barge to resume its usual daily duties at 6am. The hours weren't great but it was enough time for two semi-trailers carrying giant sections of the building (the biggest measuring 15 metres long) to make three trips across each night. The sections were then put in place on the site near Home Beach over two days, with prefabrication offsite making the building process about 50 per cent faster than a traditional build. The architecture is an example of "stealth density" according to Blok Modular director Daniel Burnett: seen from the front, the three homes are the same height and width as the old house, while each part of the building opens out to its surroundings. "You've got this sense that you're just sitting in a little bathing shack on the dunes," he said. "You're completely immersed in this environment." The project was an emotional one for the three sisters, whose parents built the original house and have since passed away. The siblings are more than pleased with the finished product, while prefabricating the house on the mainland also meant the construction process was easier on the coastal ecosystem, including the nearby wetlands. "Building traditionally on a site like this, all of the pollution and toxicity and noise and rubbish, all of those impacts of construction were taken away from the site and put into a purpose built factory in Brisbane that was designed to handle those things," said Burnett. A cabin built on stilts amongst gum trees, Sawmill Treehouse in Victoria by designer Robbie Walker, was named best New House Under 200 Square Metres. A vine-wrapped suburban Melbourne home, Hedge and Arbour House by Studio Bright, won New House Over 200 Square Metres.
