Holocene House is like being in nature. Canopied in plants, water flows through like a rainforest creek, and every room opens to the outdoors. Balancing residents’ health and comfort with environmental performance, the carbon-positive home is the first in Australia to be certified by the international Active House Alliance.

CplusC was chosen to create a home for a young couple with two children in Sydney’s beach suburb of Manly. The design brief required a main bedroom suite, two bedrooms for the children, a home office, a self-contained guest room plus a playroom where the kids could express their creativity. In short: a bespoke house tailored to the family’s lifestyle with holistic sustainable systems integrated into the architectural design.

Reflecting neighbouring properties, the house was set back from the front boundary, with covered parking and upper-level terraces forward of the building line. A gently-sloped driveway edged by stone garden beds leads up from the street. Strategic orientation and positioning was essential to preserve privacy and views for the new home and the neighbouring properties’ upper-level terraces and windows. Preserving the property’s rocky sandstone outcrops, existing shrubs and frangipani tree informed the landscape design.

Photography: Michael Lassman