The Recyclable House – Beaufort was designed with passive heating/cooling in mind like most sustainable houses, but what sets it apart is it’s cradle-to-cradle/ closed loop design philosophy.  

Designed by Quentin Irvine of Inquire Invent and built with Inquire Invent Pty Ltd. The build finished at the end of 2015. 

It is on one hand a cutting edge design experiment in  'closed loop design' ('cradle to cradle design') and on the other is very high performing and extremely comfortable to live in. It is also built to last.

The house is exceptionally high quality. It has minimal running costs with its super efficient Pyroclassic wood fire with wetback and solar hot water system. The north facing highly insulated design, ensures warmth in winter, whilst shade sails and cross flow ventilation keep it cool in summer.

Much research went into the design of the house for recyclability. The house is made of recyclable materials and is screwed, nailed and soldered (lead free) together. Wherever glues/paints/sealants have been used they are natural and biodegradable in all but a very few instances.

A byproduct of designing a house built with natural materials and finishes for their recyclability and biodegradability is the sensational indoor air quality that follows.

Quentin took a variety of very mainstream building techniques and tweaked them here and there to improve recyclability, thermal efficiency, building longevity and air quality of the building.