Lightened Impact – Dimension X by Peter Stutchbury Architecture

Born from an identified need, Dimension X is a newly conceived prefabricated home that seeks to decrease construction time, reduce waste and be flexible to its environment. Peter Stutchbury Architecture and entrepreneur Oscar Martin combine to propose an environmentally friendly home that reduces its overall energy impact as a key driving initiative.

As the costs of construction continue to grow along with the lead-times for material supply and the associated time required on site, there is something extremely appealing about ordering a home that can be constructed offsite, in controlled conditions and with a known end completion date. Having engaged in the traditional process himself, learning about the associated delays, waste, and inefficiencies of a standard building site, entrepreneur Oscar Martin saw an opportunity and partnered with Peter Stutchbury Architecture. The result sees an Australian prefabricated home in the form of Dimension X – one which aims to answer some of the frustrations of a typical build while also having an environmental conscience that grounds the ideology.

Looking to successful prototypes of refined processes and efficiencies in both Japan and Scandinavia, the approach for Dimension X is founded on minimising the energy footprint as the prime motivator.

The prefabricated home market has been explored at length both locally and abroad for some time, yet with more movement in production overseas than in Australia. While there are a multitude of models for small and tiny homes available, there are fewer options for a medium-sized home without pull down ladders or a jigsaw of internal compartments. Looking to successful prototypes of refined processes and efficiencies in both Japan and Scandinavia, the approach for Dimension X is founded on minimising the energy footprint as the prime motivator, while also being an adaptable design of lasting relevance for each resulting owner.

Through an online configurator, potential customers can customise the home they are after, based on the intended site conditions and functional requirements they are seeking both externally and internally. Designed to be more adaptive than other models, consideration has been given to orientation of the home and an understanding that a building should be a response to place, not simply placed on a site with no sensitivity to its conditions. With moveable façade elements and folding eaves to control incoming solar gains and sunlight across the seasons, the modular arrangement brings a more personalised opportunity that the smaller home options cannot deliver. Additions such as beehives, composting and rainwater tanks then complete the picture of an environmentally responsible home.

Dimension X aims to answer some of the frustrations of a typical build, while also having an environmental conscience that grounds the ideology.

Allowing for altered openings to suit the potential site conditions, Dimension X adds commentary about a building needing to perform as a sustainably mechanism and not merely be the measure of its parts. Peter Stutchbury Architects and Oscar Martin propose an appropriate response to the Australian context, allowing for personalisation and perhaps even offering solutions to some of the current challenges associated with building.