The Studio Build

Seven years ago, we subdivided the land we had lived on for almost four decades, sold our original home there, and built a smaller house further up the hill! We loved the views and the bushland around us, but we also felt the need to live differently. That need translated into a building that was simple in its design and which also enabled us to live off the grid.

Having enjoyed our first, off-grid home and the more mindful lifestyle that is necessary to live that way, we decided to build The River Studio and share a little of our experience with guests.

So what makes this build different from the typical developments that are happening at such a rapid rate across Australia at the moment?

First, our focus was to try and reduce the carbon in our materials. Like our home on the same site, The River Studio is made of bricks. These particular bricks are recycled from early Launceston buildings of the 1880s. As such, they are carbon neutral, as no new energy is required to reuse them nearly 150 years later. We also decided to add some wooden slats across the front of the studio. These were cut from an Oregon beam, which we salvaged from an 1850’s building nearby many years ago.

The studio features an internal wall of mud bricks which we made on site as well as a rammed earth feature wall. Read our next blog to find out how we did it! Well I say, ‘we’, but really it was Phil, and his normal day job is about as far away from building as you could imagine!