The Hinderwell House – a modest 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom home on an infill block in Scarborough – was recently named the best sustainable architecture project in Western Australia.

Our clients Wynand and Amy approached MDC Architects to design a small, smart, affordable and sustainable home for their young family, because they couldn’t find an existing home for sale that met all of their needs.

And the resulting home – the Hinderwell House – recently won the Wallace Greenham Award for Sustainable Architecture at the WA Architecture Awards, in June.

After the win, Wynand reflected on the design process, and how this unexpected accolade might inspire others.

Q. How did you feel when you heard the project won the top Sustainability award in WA at the architecture awards?

Wynand: “I felt excited that maybe it would make people realise that things like this are possible with builds much closer to the budget of a regular Perth family, rather than only on big budget builds.

I hope our house plays a small part in shifting the dial in how homes are designed and built around Perth and Australia.”

Q. You created this house because you couldn’t find a home to buy that ticked all the boxes for your family – what would you say to other young couples who are in the same boat?

Wynand: “I would encourage them to not just accept the standard design that you see from big builders all around Perth, and have a good think about what they actually want from their house.

I would say that they should put much more thought into building smarter and not bigger, and that the initial costs of using an architect will be outweighed by the cost savings of getting a more liveable house with a smaller footprint.” 

Q. What’s the best thing about living in the house?

Wynand: “The connection to the outdoors. You always feel like you can see the garden and sky.”

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We worked with a great team to deliver this project, and it’s such an honour to have our work recognised in this way.

The Wallace Greenham award for Sustainability is usually bestowed upon much larger and higher-budget public projects. For example, in 2025 it went to The Metronet Morley-Ellenbrook Line Project, and in 2024 it was awarded to the Ravensthorpe Cultural Precinct.

The jury citation for the Hinderwell House award noted that this project contains lessons for the broader housing market:

“Hinderwell House is humble, yet its message to the architectural profession is weighty and critical: it showcases sustainable design strategies that the industry must support by broadcasting and scaling them. It is economically sustainable, successfully arguing against the narrative that sustainability is expensive.”

We are incredibly grateful that Wynand and Amy came to us with their bold vision for a sustainable family home, and that they pushed us to investigate and incorporate new materials and methods in their design. And we’re thrilled to receive this professional recognition of what we achieved together. You can read more about this project – including the full Jury Citation – here

Are you ready to create a new family home?

If you’re keen to build your own sustainable family home, you can check out our New House Plans, which put good design within reach of more people.

You can view the range of single and two storey homes – available as 3-bedroom and 4-bedroom options – here.

Or if you’d like to commission a custom house project – like Amy and Wynand did – go to the Contact page and enter your details, and we’ll be in touch.

Pictured: Matt Delroy-Carr receives the award certificate from the Honourable Doctor Katrina Stratton MLC, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Planning and Lands; Housing and Works; Health Infrastructure, representing the Honourable John Carey MLA and representing the Honourable Rita Saffioti MLA, at the 2026 WA Architecture Awards. Photography by David Broadway.