When Peter Stutchbury and project architect Alejo Achaval entered OM-1 in our 2024 program, they shared with our judges a home designed to be configured online, delivered to site flat-packed and assembled in a matter of weeks, the first model from Dimensions X, the housing venture Stutchbury co-founded with Oscar Martin to bring energy-efficient, small-footprint architecture within reach of more Australians.
Martin has spoken of wanting to build the “Tesla of housing”, having found nothing on the market that genuinely put the planet at the top of the brief, and timber sits at the heart of that ambition, with cross-laminated timber supplied by XLam forming the great majority of OM-1’s structure and every material in its Meccano-like kit able to be reused or recycled.
“The CLT construction model was selected based upon supply, carbon footprint, cost, flexibility, recyclability, and ease of construction,” Stutchbury said.
One Structural System, Many Ways to Live
Stutchbury describes a construction technique that allows the building to self-brace, with different levels of fire resistance and joinery elements added as each owner requires, so a single frame can be planned in several ways. “The same structural system can accommodate several different planning options,” he said.
The CLT panels arrive with service recesses already fitted, and the building flat-packed, keeping its footprint on site to a minimum, while the roof plane is ready for evacuated tubes or photovoltaics, and the skylights are interchangeable, so each home can respond to its climate, its outlook, and the people who live in it.
One OM-1 was assembled in just three weeks, and Dimensions X has since extended the family with its MS-1 and PS-1 designs, yet the quality Stutchbury keeps returning to is the one no online configurator can price. “It feels like a forever home,” he said.
Winners across all 13 awards, including the Grand Prix, will be announced in the Harbourside Room at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art on Wednesday 21 October, and with more than 85 per cent of gala tickets already sold, there is still time to join us for the night.
As every project entered in our 2024 awards, from a single flat-packed home to a major public building, OM-1 reminds us why we celebrate timber projects of every scale.