Is the Dream of a Detached House and Backyard Sustainable?

Australia’s single dwelling houses – typically in the suburbs and regions – are amongst the biggest per person in the world. Housing people is a health issue, an environmental concern, and a financial burden for many people.

It means they are expensive to run and costly to maintain. It’s time to ask ourselves exactly how much house and how much stuff we need to be happy and well. As we approach Christmas, we know that construction costs have risen and supply chains are choked, energy costs have risen meaning heating and cooling is more costly and higher interests’ rates means it costs more to service a home loan. 

The truth is hundreds of millions of dollars is spent in marketing and advertising – telling us what we need to be happy and to be like our contemporaries. We are being sold furniture, appliances, new technology, and all sorts of contraptions that hold a promise of a better lifestyle and happiness. It means we work in jobs we do not enjoy; longer hours and we tolerate unsavoury conditions to maintain a lifestyle that is ultimately unfulfilling. The reality is that stuff means our houses need to be bigger to accommodate the many thousands of items we are being sold.

One estimate put the number of items in the average American suburban home at close to 300,000 items. Our communities are less connected, and our housing development encroaches more and more into natural habitat and fertile land that should be used for food production. New housing developments means we are more car reliant which is bad for young people – and our streets across the city and communities are dominated by vehicular traffic from dawn to dusk.

The idea of a walkable city is a pipe dream – because our housing has become so disconnected to an idea of community or village lifestyle. Big houses have so many negative aspects – it’s hard to know where to begin. Put simply – large houses have

less light, less fresh air, less garden, more spaces to clean and maintain and more places for stagnant air and moisture to live. What is the solution? A rethink of how and why we do what we do. Perhaps it will take a generation to make this change happen on a broad scale. However, we need a sensible way forward to consider what is necessary and to start thinking about smaller dwelling footprints with sustainable design features and the fostering of the local community. It’s time to prioritise healthy homes with fresh air and sunlight to foster better outcomes for people’s health and well-being.

Good design can no longer be thought of as a luxury – but rather it is integral to better health outcomes by creating places that are healthy, communities that are connected and environments that are truly sustainable. We know there is a solution. Why? It’s because at DiMase Architects we have been providing houses to our clients that do just that. We have been doing this work for over 20 years and we are proud of the contribution we have made to people’s lives.

Our work is centred on natural light, clean functional and open spaces that are filled with natural timbers, colour and textures that enrich and enliven the senses. We have created healthy homes that do not cost the earth. We have refurbished and maintained existing spaces and transformed older houses to be something the clients could not have imagined. We have renovated houses to provide extra living spaces that do not encroach onto the garden – and yet we create better connections to the outside so that the spaces we create are connected to nature. We have designed new houses that are low energy homes where the reliance on gas and electricity to heat and cool the home is minimal.

We do this work because we care about the environment, and we care about the people who put their faith in us to deliver them the houses they want to call home.