2025 Houses Awards: High Country ‘Spaceship’ Cabin wins Big – Realestate.com.au

Four Victorian houses, including a spatial spaceship -like cabin, have been named the most exceptional houses of the year of Australia.

The 2025 Houses Awards presented by Houses Magazine recognized several places of residence in Victoria, NSW and Qld.

The new winner of the house under the 200m² was the small Sawmill Treehouse of the Mansfield -based designer Robbie Walker.

Related: 2025 Victorian Architecture Awards are the best in the industry

‘Jewel Box’ Beach House seems clear at National Architecture Awards

AIA Awards, Houses Awards Showcase Vic’s most spectacular properties of 2024

With its extraterrestrial appearance, the 48m² house has been surrounded by gum trees comparisons with a spaceship.

The best new house of more than 200 m² Gong went to Ivanhoe’s Hedge and Arbor House of Architecture Practice Studio Bright.

In Carlton, a real estate received from Architecture Architecture the house in a Heritage Context Award.

The terrace of circa-1870 was turned into a house with a garden studio for the owners to write and paint.

And a change and addition of Carlton House by Lovell Burton Architecture also won a prize.

The historic house was extensively and renovated to record family -friendly details, such as polished concrete floors for children to ride on their bikes.

Sawmill Treehouse was built as a small cabin with a calming and serene interior where visitors can feel with nature. Robbie Walker. Photo: Tasha Tylee.

---

The cabin is located in an Alpine National Park. Photo: Tasha Tylee.

---

Another Victorian receiver was the Ellul architecture of Windsor that was presented with the emerging architecture practice Gong.

Houses Magazine Editor and the jury chairman of the Awards, Alexa Kempton, said that many of the winning houses showed inventiveness with various defensive sustainable design – including Sawmill Treehouse.

Mr. Walker said that the owner of the cabin had spent time camping on the building before ordering the cabin.

An ultra-minimalist retreat set between the tree tops. Photo: Tasha Tylee.

---

As a result, she fell in love with his tall trees and did not want to remove during construction.

The customer asked Mr. Walker to design a small house to share with her family and friends, which she also rents for a short stay.

It features a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living room with services hidden under the floor and behind the stairs.

In a high-risk forest fire area, the external material is non-flammable steel, while the interior is wood.

Hedge and Arbor House by Studio Bright, wrapped in vines, where the outdoors meets and goes together with a modern house. Photo: Rory Gardiner.

---

The architecture of the house “dissolves” in the surrounding natural natural environment. Photo: Rory Gardiner.

---

Mr. Walker said that the location near a channel that collects water from the surrounding area caused some problems during the design process.

His innovative solution was to put the house on posts, allowing water to flow under it.

“The large high trees that fill the area were the inspiration for the high columns based on the tree trunks,” said Mr. Walker.

“They extend along the building, just like the trees.”

Another small building on the site has a garage, laundry and outdoor kitchen.

Mess Hall, The Home by Architecture Architecture, has an artistic refuge in which the owners can enjoy time painting and writing. Photo: Tom Ross.

---

The former narrow corridors and shady rooms of the Victorian era have been converted into light -filled spaces for a family to live in. Photo: Tom Ross.

---

Mr. Walker described his client as the true hero of the project, because “choosing to build something small if you have the space to get bigger, costs real courage”.

“Brokers advised that a house with three bedrooms with four bedrooms would get the best price if they ever decided to sell,” he said.

Banks would probably have difficulty appreciating a house with one bedroom in a rural area, while planning and building permits for smaller projects require the same consultants, reports and approvals as larger ones, he noticed.

“So after all that effort, resisting the urge to easily double the use of materials and add extra bedrooms, is not a small performance,” said Mr. Walker.

“In a system that is reduced by surplus, choosing to build less – not out of necessity but out of principle – is just like that, if not, important than the materials themselves. Seeing that decision really leads to courage.”

Carlton Cottage is a reworked employees from the 1870s with large revolving doors and a sliding gate panel. Photo: Rory Gardiner.

---

The 2025 houses Awards winners:

Australian House of the Year – Blok Three Sisters of Blok Modular and Vokes and Peters, Queensland

New house under the 200 square meter – Sawmill Treehouse by Robbie Walker, Victoria

New House More than 200 Square Meter – Hedge and Arbor House by Studio Bright, Victoria

House change and addition under 200 square meters – Carlton Cottage by Lovell Burton Architecture, Victoria

Carlton Cottage is the home of a young family. Photo: Rory Gardiner.

---

House change and addition more than 200 square meters – Cloaked House by Trias, NSW

Apartment or unit – Blok Three Sisters of Blok Modular and Vokes and Peters, Queensland

Klein Project – Window, Window, Windster by Panov Scott, NSW

Sustainability – Cake House of Alexander Symes Architect, NSW

House in a heritage context – Mess Hall from Architecture Architecture, Victoria

Emerging Architecture Practice – Ellul Architecture, Victoria

Register with the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here To get the newest Victorian real estate market news directly on your inbox.

More: Unique Templestowe House above 8m Void hits market for $ 1 million

Kew Home on Grand Designs Australia Hits Market

The Dud -Buitenwijk Blok revealed: Shock data show Reno risks