Hannah Gibbon
A house that is good for the soul: Birregurra Passive House
Some places are built to impress. Birregurra Passive House, the first release from The Otway Accommodation Group, is built to restore you.
Set in the Otways town of Birregurra, under two hours from Melbourne, this architect-designed home is a certified Passive House. In simple terms, the building looks after you. Fresh, filtered air moves quietly through every room. The temperature sits at a steady, comfortable 20 to 21 degrees all year, with no draughts, no cold corners and no heater humming in the background. And it is quiet. The kind of quiet that lets your shoulders drop and your breathing slow before you have even unpacked.
Wellbeing often starts with the basics: clean air, deep sleep, stillness and time. This house is designed around all four.
Designed by architect Charith Siriwardana of GDC Architects, the house sleeps six across three bedrooms, with mid-century modern interiors. Timber, stone and soft natural light set the tone. Nothing shouts for attention, which leaves room for you to notice the things that matter. Morning light across the floor. A slow cup of tea. A real conversation with people you love.
Rest comes easily here because so little is asked of you. Before you arrive, host Hannah sends a preference sheet so the house is ready: pillows soft or firm, the temperature you like, breakfast provisions in the kitchen and drinks chilled in the fridge, all included. Dietary needs are asked about up front and honoured with care. If you want to go deeper, Hannah can arrange an in-house massage, Pilates or personal training, a platter of local produce, or dinner at a local restaurant.
Step outside and the Otways do their own quiet work. Birregurra’s main street is a ten-minute walk, with the Birregurra Grocer, General Store and Royal Mail Hotel close by. Rainforest and waterfall walks are a short drive away, the kind of green, damp, ancient places that settle the mind. Lorne and the ocean are thirty minutes down the road. Dogs are welcome too, with a fully fenced yard, so the whole family can exhale together.
The group’s tagline is “Luxury that treads lightly,” and it holds up. This is comfort that uses very little energy to deliver, in a home designed to be kind to the people inside it and the landscape around it. There is something healing in that alone.
At $900 AUD per night it is a considered investment in yourself, best shared with a few friends or family who want to slow down properly. Come for the architecture. Leave feeling more like yourself.
Birregurra Passive House is open now and available to book on Airbnb and Booking.com. Find out more at birregurrapassivehouse.com.au
