Grand idea for a compact home puts spotlight on Lewisham

Alice Hansen’s brief was simple: a compact home, compensating for a lack of space with an open-plan layout furnished with Tasmanian products. What she didn’t expect was to have the build overseen by the Grand Designs crew.

ALICE Hansen has always enjoyed taking armchair tours of the luxury mansions featured on TV series Grand Designs. So when the Tasmanian author and blogger was approached to feature her newly built Lewisham “shoebox” on the Australian version of the show she was more than a little nervous.

But the 38-year-old couldn’t be happier with the way her compact timber abode overlooking the water has turned out, and admits she quite enjoyed having the entire build documented by camera crews.

Alice Hansen's small but functional home at Lewisham, complete with its cool floating fireplace, will be featured on Grand Designs Australia on Foxtel. Pictures: FOXTEL/RHIANNON SLATTER

Hansen’s aim was to build a small yet functional home with an open-plan design featuring an air of luxury, while also sticking to a modest budget.

She wanted the home to be transportable in case she ever decided to move, while also challenging traditional ideals about how a transportable home should look.

Hansen also wanted the home to celebrate the beauty of Tasmanian products, showcasing the work of local craftspeople she met through her work as a writer and founder of Tailored Tasmania, a launch pad for helping visitors explore the state like a local.

From the rich timber tones inside and out to the custom-built floating fireplace and outdoor bath tub, the suspended pod-style home is a peaceful retreat which Hansen says is like an “extension of my writing, in the built form”.

“I always loved the idea of smaller living,” Hansen reveals. “Not so much a ‘tiny home’ but I do think you can only exist in one room at time. I also wanted to make it as beautifully Tasmanian as I could.”

Alice Hansen with Grand Designs Australia presenter Peter Maddison in the living room of her smalll but beautiful Lewisham home, being featured on Foxtel tonight.

She says a Grand Designs audience survey showed that Australian viewers wanted to see more of Tasmania on the show. Producers contacted some Tasmanian architects to see if any suitable projects were on the radar and that’s how they found out about Hansen’s pod home.

“I didn’t believe they’d be interested in mine,” Hansen says, still shocked by the inclusion.

“You watch episodes with big, multi-million dollar mansions and I’ve got this tiny little shoebox.”

Hansen began building the house in April last year and initially wanted the build to cost about $200,000.

Alice Hansen’s suspended pod-style home at Lewisham.

She quickly discovered things like groundworks and driveways were more expensive than she anticipated, but she forged ahead, determined to create a unique studio-style home with a strong focus on both form and function.

“I loved the idea of a transportable house that didn’t look temporary, and that was a hard balance to get,” Hansen admits.

“But I did like the thought that if I wanted to pick it up and move it I had that flexibility. It literally came on two trucks and it could leave on two trucks.

“And if I wanted to I could add another pod on top or beside it. I liked the fact of not being stuck down because that’s what stopped me buying a house in the past.”

The house includes many Tasmanian-made products, including an outdoor bath tub.

As a freelance writer Hansen was mindful not to take on a home — or a mortgage — that was too large.

“A manageable mortgage allows me the freedom to write and travel and not feel like I’m stressed about that,” she says.

“I was at a point where I wanted to buy a house and I thought I could buy an existing dwelling or I could build something really special and unique.

“I had to move further out of the city and scale down what I had in mind — it was something of beautiful quality vs square metres.”

Hansen invested more than $30,000 in local makers for items including a handcrafted dining table, side tables, ceramic basin and custom couch.

She visited Lake Pieman, on Tasmania’s West Coast, to see the Huon pine for her home’s floors, outdoor bath slab and timber-backed couch being pulled from the depths, salvaged by local business Hydrowood from an underwater forest that was created when the Pieman River was dammed in the 1980s to create hydro-electricity.

Meanwhile, the Tasmanian oak interior walls and ceiling are from Woodley and Co in Launceston.

The compact bedroom.

Hansen visited blacksmith Pete Matilla in Battery Point to see her floating fireplace being made while her bathroom basin was crafted by Hobart’s Lindsey Wherrett and her couch handcrafted in Launceston by Simon Ancher. “The couch especially was a real work of art in the end,” Hansen says. “It looks like a work of art but it’s also incredibly comfortable.”

The whole process ended up costing about $430,000, including the cost of the land which Hansen purchased about a year before building work began.

Hansen credits the success of the build to the great team of people around her — including architects Nick Terry (JAWS) and Craig Rosevear (Rosevear Stephenson) and builder Josh Muskett and his Podmatrix team.

But Hansen says even until the very end she had niggling doubts about whether her custom furniture and fireplace would be too big and block the flow inside the pod, which is basically one big room with separation only for the combined bathroom and laundry. But it turns out everything fitted perfectly.

“It has got a really light feel and is quite suspended — the fireplace is suspended and the couch floats,” Hansen says. “It’s the simplicity of it I’m really delighted by as I wanted the outlook to do the talking. It’s a lovely view.

“The house only has one [internal] door — that’s to the bathroom/laundry. It’s cosy but surprisingly most have found it to feel bigger than they imagined from images and descriptions.”

Alice Hansen’s pod house at Lewisham.

Hansen had a specific request for the architect — no TV. All she wanted was a fireplace, a record player and big windows so she could sit and watch the world go by. Entry to the home is via a sliding glass door at the rear.

“Looking at that view which is constantly changing — that’s entertainment enough,” she says.

Camera crews visited at least a dozen times during the year-long building process, with filming wrapping up in April. Hansen’s builders have added a few final touches in recent weeks and Hansen was excited to receive her certificate of occupancy last month.

Initially, she plans to split her time between her new pod home and the property she currently rents in Battery Point.

“It was a really fun journey, but it was also hard,” Hansen reveals of building and filming. “It was pretty full on and quite time-intensive. There was a team of five flying down regularly [to film the show]. Every single team member was so meticulous.

“Sometimes I thought ‘what am I doing this for?’ It’s stressful enough building without doing it on TV. But it was fun. I’m still very nervous about seeing it on TV. I might go into hiding. But looking back I’m definitely glad I did it.”

See Alice Hansen’s Lewisham home on season eight of Grand Designs Australia on Foxtel’s Lifestyle channel on Wednesday night, at 8.30pm