Off grid architects for rural homes in NSW

An off grid home is not a normal house with solar panels added. It has to produce, store and manage all of its own energy and water, through every season, with no connection to fall back on. That changes the design from the first sketch: how the house faces the sun, how much roof it needs to collect water, where batteries and tanks can live, and how the rooms stay comfortable without leaning on heavy heating and cooling.

Off grid architects design the building and its systems together. We work with engineers and specialist consultants from the start, so the house performs as well as it looks and the systems are sized to how the household really lives.

Winterwood, now under construction, is a substantial new rural homestead built to serve a thriving equestrian property in rural NSW. Massive rammed earth walls anchor a series of long clad pavilions, forming protected courtyards on what is a very exposed site. The main living pavilion is oriented to the key views to the north west, the sleeping wing faces east, and a pool pavilion pushes out into the paddock.

The house will run completely off grid, with a substantial solar and battery storage system and around 500kL of water storage.

Winterwood is one of a number of large rural properties we are designing to run completely off grid. Silo House, currently in design, is based on a semicircular plan centred on a pool and outdoor space, roofed by a sculptural group of grain silos. It follows the same approach, with substantial solar and battery power and around 500kL of water storage.

Each property is different, but the thinking is the same: use the site, the sun and the roof to do the heavy lifting, then size the systems to suit. That is the difference between an off grid home that simply copes and one that is a pleasure to live in.

Off grid architecture in Australia has to handle long dry spells, hot summers and, here in the Central Tablelands, genuinely cold winters. That is why materials matter. Heavy materials like rammed earth store warmth and coolness, deep eaves keep summer sun off the glass, and good orientation lets winter sun in where it is wanted.

If you are looking at off grid house designs in Australia, it is worth talking to an architect before you commit to a kit or a set of plans. Every rural site is different, and the best off grid homes are designed for one place only.

The cheapest energy is the energy a house never needs. Before any panels or batteries are sized, we get the passive design right: orientation, shading, insulation and thermal mass. Our passive and energy efficient design page explains that approach in more detail.

An off grid home built on those principles needs smaller systems, costs less to run and stays comfortable when the weather turns. It is also a calmer house to live in, with fewer machines doing the work that good design can do for free.