‘Home Truth’ is a bold critique of Australian housing and call for sustainable design

How big is too big when it comes to the Australian dream home? This question sits at the heart of Home Truth by Melbourne-based architecture and design studio Breathe, the winning design for the 2024 National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) Architecture Commission. The house-within-a-house installation challenges audiences to rethink how small-scale architecture can create homes that are more sustainable, higher-quality and community-focused in Australia. Marking its ninth iteration, the NGV Architecture Commission is a celebrated annual initiative by the National Gallery of Victoria, challenging Australian architects and designers to craft contemporary, site-specific installations in the Gallery’s Grollo Equiset Garden. Past commissions have explored themes as varied as community, sustainability and spatial experimentation with notable contributors by Nic Brunsdon (2023), Adam Newman and Kelvin Tsang (2022) and Yhonnie Scarce and Edition Office (2019). By contrasting the average Australian house size with a more modest alternative, this year, Breathe continues the tradition with Home Truth to critique Australia’s oversized housing culture while proposing a better way forward.

In his 2024 essay, Framing the future: The growth of Australian houses, NGV curator Dr Timothy Moore explores how the size and design of a home influence mental well-being. He argues that oversized spaces can create feelings of alienation rather than comfort, often becoming burdensome to maintain and having more to do with status than refuge. Moore writes that the Australian fixation on large homes isn’t just a physical phenomenon; it reflects deeper societal anxieties, highlighting the unintended consequences of this obsession such as social isolation, ecological degradation and unsustainable consumption of resources. By contrasting this trend with historical examples of modest housing that prioritised functionality, affordability and community, he offers a lens through which the installation probes modern ideals of housing.

According to statistics from 2020, Australia is among the nations with the largest average home sizes, surpassing countries such as the United States, the UK, France, and Canada, with an average size of 236 square metres. This cultural inclination toward large homes exacerbates suburban growth and adds considerably to the carbon footprint associated with construction. Home Truth tackles these issues head-on by creating a physical dialogue between two structures: a large external frame that mirrors the average Australian home and a smaller, reflective timber space nestled within.

The outer frame of the installation forms the silhouette of a typical house, complete with exaggerated features such as a yawning garage door. This voluminous outer layer represents excess and questions the ethical implications of larger homes. Inside, a labyrinth of pine-framed walls guides visitors through a maze-like journey before opening into a serene timber architecture retreat. This smaller structure, constructed entirely of tightly packed timber studs, symbolises a return to a more thoughtful and sustainable scale of living.

Tony Ellwood AM, Director of the NGV, described the installation as a “fascinating conversation about housing and sustainability in this country,” in an official release. Through its clever play on scale and materials, the project draws attention to how smaller, community-oriented homes can provide a better quality of life while reducing environmental impact.

The materials used in Home Truth further emphasise its critique of current housing practices. The outer frame and maze-like walls are constructed from framing pine, a ubiquitous and affordable material in Australian construction. The outer skin, made from Saveboard—derived entirely from post-consumer waste—represents the thin foil insulation often found in contemporary builds. These choices ground the installation in the realities of current construction methods while advocating for a more sustainable approach.

The heart of the installation is its meditative inner structure, a timber haven that invites visitors to pause and reflect. This smaller-scale home references Melbourne’s historical housing solutions, such as the terrace houses of the early 1900s and the mid-century Small Homes Service, which offered affordable, architect-designed houses under 100 square metres. It also nods to Carlton’s Cairo apartments, designed to provide compact, community-focused living for single working men in the 1930s. Drawing on these precedents, the architects highlight that their proposal isn’t an unattainable vision but a return to thoughtful, affordable housing design that meets social and environmental needs. The labyrinthine outer structure doubles up on the dissonance of oversized homes as described by Moore, immersing visitors in scale and complexity before transitioning into the serene, intimate core.

The team at Breathe has long been at the forefront of sustainable design in Australia and elsewhere, known for pushing the boundaries of what architecture can achieve. From the Commons, a multi-award-winning housing project that prioritised rooftop gardens and energy efficiency to initiatives like the Nightingale Housing model, the studio’s philosophy of prioritising people and the planet has established a transformative legacy in Australian architecture.

Ultimately, Home Truth circumvents its role as an architectural installation to both lend cultural critique and a blueprint for the future. Underscoring the disparity between Australia’s housing ideals and the realities of climate and community needs opens the door to a new conversation about how we live and build, with a scope of globalising the argument. In doing so, it offers a compelling ideal for rethinking the Australian dream to a more mindful one.

‘Home Truth’ will be on display between November 13, 2024 – April 27, 2025, at NGV International, St. Kilda Road, Melbourne, Australia.