Envirotecture announced as a finalist at 2025 ArchiTeam Awards

We are very pleased to announce that our Little Pot of Gold Project has been announced as a finalist at the 2025 ArchiTeam Awards in the category of Innovation and Contribution.

This category recognises exceptional contributions to architecture beyond building design, celebrating initiatives, research, advocacy, and other work that advances the profession. It highlights the diverse ways architects can influence the built environment and society through thought leadership, education, and innovative practice.

This was our submission:

Our response to a national true-zero carbon design challenge became a voluntary research project that looked deeply into the health, comfort and carbon implications of single family homes in Australia.

‍This “Little Pot of Gold” is 24 different iterations of the same home, tuned for different climates in each state capital and designed to deliberately varying levels of performance and comfort, and construction material. This vividly showed the interactions between energy efficiency, occupant health, comfort and carbon emissions. 

The aim was to clarify the conversation Australia needs to be having about what we prioritise in our housing. Off-setting an inefficient design by increasing solar energy generation is not a sustainable or desirable way to reach true net zero. Efficiency first!

A modest family home achieved in 120m2, half the floor area of typical new Australian homes! It has three bedrooms, a study (or fourth bedroom), a spacious open plan kitchen/dining room/lounge, excellent storage and great connection to the outdoors. It has two bathrooms in a novel configuration that provides a great deal of flexibility. The design is flexible, accessible, welcoming and functional for all kinds of occupants.

For each state, there were four iterations of this design.

1. Optimised to get the best score using NatHERS.

2-4. Modelled in accordance with the international Passivhaus standard, (radically reducing operational carbon emissions).

The Passivhaus options specified different types of construction material to vary the amount of embodied carbon emissions associated with the design, including timber, straw and hemp. The low embodied carbon version is a timber subfloor option that gives flexibility to sites that aren’t always flat and shows that True Zero does not need to come with a slab. Integrated Heat Recovery Ventilation system ensures a healthy internal environment. With compact form factor and space-efficient floor plan there is plenty of space for owners to enjoy their backyard or its views from the living. 

It became evident that an operationally efficient building can still be a bad carbon outcome. Adding more Solar PV on a poorly-performing building is not a good carbon outcome (nor human health one). NatHERS is no guarantee of anything (aside from an approval) as there is no relationship between stars and energy use (or comfort) across the nation. The current cost of building is a challenge, not the cost of building well.

‍We need a fit-for-purpose approach of health, carbon efficiency and resilience in a changing world. Any carbon reduction trajectory based upon our current regulatory system is at serious risk of under-delivering. It is urgent to massively reduce the carbon associations related with Australian construction.

This prototype shows housing equity can be a reality across Australia.

The findings from this research project were published on a website, presented at multiple industry conferences, also forming part of national decarbonisation educational content. The key message is that these lessons can be applied to all scales/types of buildings, showcasing what’s possible for lower-carbon buildings that are also healthier for people and planet. 

It’s an honour to be recognised for this research project.

Congratulations to all of the worthy finalists in this year’s awards! You can see them all here. Winners will be announced on 19th November.

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