Top 8 Small House Plans (2024)

Article written by Brodie Norris from the Lunchbox Architect

A wise woman, has a saying about big houses, ‘it’s just more to clean’. And yet Australians now have the largest average house sizes in the world. No wonder we feel like we never have enough time!

So, take a leaf out of a wise womens or (architects) book and eschew all that extra space in favour of something more compact, so you can spend more time relaxing and less time scrubbing the bathroom. Here are some small house plans for inspiration by some of Australia’s leading Architects.

Australian architects Jackson Clements Burrows added perforated shutters to the exterior of this holiday cabin “like a Gore-Tex jacket”, providing light and ventilation when closed.

The interior of the 60-square-metre cabin has a timber pod in the middle, with various spaces built into its periphery. These include a kitchen, dining bench and U-shaped seating nook at one end, a bathroom at the other end, and two bedrooms in the centre – one with bunks for the children.

This holiday retreat, measuring a mere 40 square metres, is designed to close up against the elements when not in use. It accommodates a family of five in a kitchen/dining/living area, a bathroom and two sleeping zones: the children’s zone accommodates a three-tiered bunk.

The clients sought to explore the real essence of holiday living: small, simple and functional. The normal rituals of daily life – cooking, dining, sleeping and showering – are all connected to the outside.

The clients’ desire for sustainability is evident in the modest building size, the use of timber in cladding, structure, lining and joinery, and the manually operated mechanisation. Apart from food delivery and non-recyclable waste removal, the hut functions as a self-sustaining organism with rain-catchment tanks, a worm-tank waste system and separate potable and grey-water tanks.

A light, bright and clever layout, demonstrating our Smart Design philosophy of ‘design big rather than build big’, which focusses on making a space feel generous, open and shared on a smaller footprint.

The perfect get-out-of-town retreat to slow down and recharge. Designed to maximise solar gain and natural air-flow, providing warmth and amazing comfort throughout the year. Fox can also act as a separate studio, granny flat detached from your primary home.

JR’s Hut designed by Anthony Hunt Design and Luke Stanley Architects

As the architect says, “It is a place to switch off, quite literally, and forget about the distractions of modern life.”

ArchiBlox have become renowned for affordable, well-designed prefabricated homes. This project in Avalon is no exception. With a green roof and other sustainable elements this beach-side residence touches the earth lightly physically and metaphorically… Minimal in size but grand in design intent.

Prospect House is small, efficient, warm and light. It is all about the outlook. The outlook to the view and the outlook to the future. It is about the exploration of a simple, sustainable way of life.

On a windy and exposed site, The small 97sqm home is bunkered down below the ridgeline of the surrounding hill. It is wrapped in a “light and tight” building envelope of double-dipped steel and raw ironbark cladding – a nod to the traditional hay shed.

The whole house operates on a 20,000 Litre rainwater tank, while black water is treated via a worm waste treatment system. This system delivers naturally treated Grade-A water to the grass lands below the house. No sewerage leaves the site.

This carbon positive, prefabricated, house represents a new movement — the carbon positive house provides the option for a more environmentally-conscious design, through both reducing embodied energy that accompanies new-home construction and maintaining positive-energy production.

Archiblox prove that it’s no longer enough to just be Carbon Neutral. Their new prefabricated prototype that dropped in on Melbourne’s City Square in February 2015.

Sawmill House has a highly operable envelope that takes advantage of the local breeze that travels up the valley towards the house, passively cooling in the summer months with crossflow ventilation. In the cooler months sun penetration is maximised by rolling back a 14 metre section of openable roof over the deck, allowing the sun to passively heat the dwelling for most of the year.

The 100sq plan was developed during construction to include a private courtyard and operable roof. The bedroom faces east as the client wished to wake at first light, with a large pivot window allowing him to ‘sleep under the stars’.

Click to view our SMART DESIGNS to see our full range of Customisable floor plans by Archiblox.