While in the inner city suburb of East Melbourne in Victoria, a very small block is set to make way for a three story totally green home with geo-thermal heating and cooling and a rooftop garden and spa. Photographer Ralph Alfonso has a very strong sense of how precious our environment is and how little space we really need to live in. His downsized style of living focuses on being as frugal as possible, using a ground-breaking and innovative environmental design. The thing is… the house footprint measures just 5 x 4 metres, making it grand in design, although miniature in size.

Nick and Kate take inspiration from their vineyard location for the first build. Their home is designed in the shape of a leaf, with a spine stone wall running through the middle and comes with a singing studio.