Sign up for our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s magic,\u201d says one sister. \u201cRight now I\u2019m looking out over the sea watching the whales go by.\u201d<\/p>\n
Identical by design: the layout and finishes of the three houses are the sameWherever you sit, there\u2019s a connection to nature, says architect Daniel Burnett. Photograph: Christopher Frederick Jones<\/p>\n
Awareness of the natural environment extended to the home\u2019s disaster-preparedness. Windows had to be triple glazed to fit fire zone safety requirements, for example, which the sisters say adds to the sense of privacy in each individual house. \u201cInside with the windows closed, you can\u2019t hear anyone else,\u201d says the sister.<\/p>\n
Blok Three Sisters was named house of the year in 2025\u2019s Houses awards. It\u2019s an example of \u201cstealth density\u201d, says the architect John Ellway, one of the jurors. \u201cYou can see how the ideas in this [project] could be replicated and rolled out in a lot of different places.\u201d<\/p>\n
It could be used for \u201cthree families, three generations, or three friends. That\u2019s what stood out for us,\u201d Ellway says.<\/p>\n
Designing each unit the same way, down to the furnishings, was a practical choice. \u201cThe more you customise, the higher the price gets,\u201d says the sister. To decide which sibling got which property, they \u201cwent out to dinner and drew lots\u201d.<\/p>\n
A module of Blok Three Sisters is transported by truck to the site. Photograph: Christopher Frederick Jones<\/p>\n
They knew they wanted a prefabricated modular build because they\u2019d seen how quick and efficient it could be. \u201cDoing everything you can possibly do in a controlled environment reduces the disruption for delicate ecosystems,\u201d like Stradbroke Island\u2019s, says Burnett, who partnered with architect Stuart Vokes from Brisbane\u2019s Vokes and Peters and builders Pagewood Projects to create modules that would be delivered and assembled on location.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can be a bit more ambitious about what you\u2019re building because you\u2019re not hanging off a ladder in the afternoon sun, and you can utilise the cranes and sophisticated machinery that\u2019s installed in the factory rather than available on the back of a ute,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Local plumbers and electricians were employed to connect the building to services, and a small team was sent to complete cosmetic joins between the modules. But otherwise the homes are fully finished in the factory: \u201cEvery window, door, tile, joinery, tap, all the flooring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Built to budget and with readily available materials, it shows \u201ca good project doesn\u2019t necessarily have to be this luxurious flashy thing\u201d, says Ellway. \u201cGiven that it\u2019s prefab and modular, the other thing [the jury] acknowledged is that if the need came to move it, they could lift it up and take it somewhere else,\u201d or raise the properties a metre off the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe modular build gave us timing certainty,\u201d says the sister, as they first engaged with the architects shortly after Covid. The buildings were completed within a year.<\/p>\n
The design helps \u2018maximise the magic,\u2019 says one of the homeowners. Photograph: Christopher Frederick Jones<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this project is exciting because it demonstrates a model for housing density,\u201d says Burnett. \u201cIt shows it\u2019s possible to make multi-storey, multi-residential housing in a factory at a very high standard that could be applied to other models, like social housing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
The architectural design \u201chelps us maximise the magic\u201d, says the sister. \u201cSitting on that double-height deck, looking toward the beach, laying on the couch reading a book, is really very beautiful.\u201d At Christmas and Easter, all three siblings and their families come together on the big lawn on the beach side of the property.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we live in it, we face the beach, that lawn,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s our face to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Split it, sell it, or find a way of keeping it in the family? That\u2019s the question three…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":113334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-113333","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114959957572898230","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}