The Base Haus journey began with CORNERBLOCK, a mixed-use commercial building on the Gold Coast that set a new standard for small-scale sustainable development. This project was our first, and it pioneered achievable, sustainable outcomes in a compact development setting.
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By being both the designer and builder of CORNERBLOCK, we were able to control every detail, resulting in a world-class outcome. This unique opportunity allowed us to integrate sustainability seamlessly into every aspect of the project, from initial design through to construction.

The lessons learned from CORNERBLOCK form the foundation of Base Haus today. Our firsthand experience with traditional energy modelling tools and their impact on both design decisions and on-site construction inspired us to rethink the entire process. We re-engineered the typical workflow for energy-efficient design, enabling greater detail at the feasibility stage, more accurate results during design, and quicker responses to challenges on-site.

Our on-the-ground experience delivering CORNERBLOCK, combined with our in-house parametric workflows, gives us a unique skill set when delivering energy efficient design in the built environment.

In 2023, on an impulse, we bought a block of land in central Queensland... yeah lots of questions come to the minds of the people we tell this too, the main one being - WHY? It’s a good question... ***crickets***

Well after 2 years of software development and refining our goal of Making Passiv Massiv, this location now appears to be the perfect place to put our money where our mouth is. With Prairie House we will prove the viability of PassivHaus in arguably the most challenging climate region of Queensland, if not Australia, all while providing much needed housing to a regional part of Queensland. If this sounds ambitious, yeah you’re probably right but we have a habit of turning left when everyone else is turning right.

The town of Prairie (population 116) is located a half hour drive west from Hughenden and 4 hours east of Townsville on the Flinders Highway. When we say central Queensland, we mean CENTRAL.

Our block is located right next to the local cop shop and about a 30 second walk to the local, The Prairie Hotel. Add that to the natural landscape beauty created by the semi-arid climate with temperature variations of -2c to +44c, and you can see we didn’t choose the easy route for our first regional project.