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A playful wallpaper mural with a mustard-yellow background line the walls of their daughter's room.

"The house is designed to change with the family's needs and weather with the elements,

To avoid interfering too much with the sloping site, the architects raised the 2,000-square-foot home on low stilts placed in diagonal patterns. All of the timber was prefabricated to the architects’ specification by a specialized vendor and shipped ready for assembly.

Clerestory windows let light into the backyard recording studio.

The studio comprises two equally sized spaces—one for Miriam and one for Simon—connected by double doors. The in-between space acts as storage, a small kitchenette, and Miriam’s dark room. Each studio space has been designed to meet the specific needs of the artist. Miriam’s space, for example, is punctuated by an enormous round window that allows her to draw inspiration from the surrounding landscape, while the walls in Simon’s space are dedicated to timber and tool storage.

The slats on the window offer solar protection and privacy. “Before the slats were installed, it really felt like you were just living on the street,” says Vanbesien.

“There is an enormous amount of glass here,” laughs Vanbesien—so much so that the design team struggled to find enough wall space to mount the heat pump.

Stand in the right spot between the office and the kitchen, and you can see through all the different layers of the house.

Copper cladding will patina over time. Horizontally articulated windows and standing seams give the facade a sleek, streamlined presence.

The first Kabina cabin cost about $13,023, and it’s currently set up as a retreat in the Northern Beaches area of Sydney.

Although plywood was a cheap and practical choice, it gives the cabin a warm and inviting feel.

Inside, the cabins are wrapped in either aspen or spruce, with most of the timber sourced sustainably from Estonian forests. The same shingling technique used on the exterior is employed to create a layered, half-dome design at each end of the hut.

Unlike the ultra-utilitarian concrete block buildings commonly found on Australian campsites, the StandUp cabin is both functional and thoughtfully designed with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the landscape and highly durable Western Red Cedar cladding.

This archetypal Swedish building form, shaped like a Monopoly house, serves as an artist’s studio, with a simple plywood interior and massive skylights to let in natural sunlight.