“I studied sustainability in Tasmania in the 90s, it’s certainly part of my DNA and I’ve been fortunate to practice it for 25 years. So this (designing Sweetwater House) was about how do I take this … and bring something that’s different into a suburban space, a different model and way of doing things?”

Principal Chris Botterill in the current edition of Green magazine, where Sweetwater House makes the cover with a lovely story by Kath Dolan.

Chris has inspired the studio with his Frankston home, which invites us all to live more sustainably but also has connection and a sense of gathering at its heart.

“(With) the kid’s entrance, all their friends just come in and out there now, really fluidly. The idea of having our house as the centre of that kind of activity is really good. We didn’t necessarily expect for that to happen but it has, and it’s beautiful.”

Image by Tom Blachford