Off-grid Sustainable Cabin ● Holiday Accommodation
Emberwood House
Designed by Matt Burleigh ● Feasibility Design
Emberwood House is an off-grid, architect-designed cabin nestled in the hills of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast hinterland. Conceived as a place of calm and connection, it was designed for a young family of four seeking a simpler, more sustainable way of living. The spatial layout supports ease, rhythm, and strong ties to the surrounding bushland—reflecting their intention to live lightly and harmoniously within the landscape.
Emberwood House was envisioned as a country cabin where beauty, comfort, and sustainability could coexist. Reflecting the Queensland hinterland vernacular, the design pairs natural timbers with corrugated roofing, creating a warm, grounded response to place. Fully off-grid, the cabin integrates solar power, water tanks, and greywater systems—supporting self-sufficient family living. The result is an eco cabin design that blurs the boundaries between indoors and out, deeply rooted in its landscape yet adaptable for remote, low-impact living.
Emberwood House demonstrates how thoughtful, off-grid architecture can offer both functionality and quiet beauty—bringing together sustainable systems, tactile materials, and a lived connection to place.
The cabin’s restrained palette was designed to pair with simple, durable timber furnishings—celebrating craftsmanship while letting natural textures remain the focus. Inspired by New Zealand cabin typologies, Emberwood House reinterprets that lineage for the unique climate and conditions of the Maleny hills. Though unbuilt, it remains a quiet, place-responsive example of off-grid cabin design—where sustainable living, country home principles, and biophilic intent converge.
A feasibility study by Cynosure Architecture.