A Sunshine Coast sculptor’s unique Eco igloo house idea has taken out a world-renowned building and design competition, as well as winning a significant share of prize money.
From tens of thousands of entries worldwide, 100 aspiring designers, architects, and DIYers from 23 countries have been chosen to bring their crazy house ideas to life and share in the $10m USD OMG! Fund.
Among the winners were four recipients from Australia – one of them is a sculptor from the Sunshine Coast hinterland.
The four will all receive up to $100,000 USD prizemoney (currently worth $149,062 AUD).
Flaxton’s Cath Wild has been busy building or rather ‘sculpting’ her aircrete dome home for the last year.
Believed to be the first of its kind to get building approval in Australia, Ms Wild is building her sustainable home brick-by-handmade-brick.
After being tipped-off about the competition by a friend, Ms Wild said she “just knew she was going to win” with her quirky project.
“I’m so excited to win and to get such an amazing financial boost to finish the dome off to a standard I never though achievable,” Ms Wild said.
“The prize money elevates the build so much, to what to going to be a beautiful build to something stunning.
“Winning impacts the build hugely; now I can pay people to do things that would have taken me months, and it’s done in a week.”
Ms Wild said it was quite an involved submission process to pitch the dome to the OMG team.
“I’m very grateful to the Airbnb OMG panel for having faith in my project,” she said.
Ms Wild is building her ‘Eco-Igloo’ – or aircrete dome home – using 6000 handmade aircrete bricks. It is made up of four large domes that blend into the lush rainforest backdrop of the Blackall Range.
Aircrete is described as “concrete with bubbles”. It is insulative, sound proof, pest proof, cyclone proof, lightweight, and has DIY-friendly benefits, making it a perfect option for our diverse Australian climate.
READ MORE: No place like dome: ‘first’ in reshaping low-cost housing
“It’s a game changer to help more people achieve beautiful and very affordable builds,” Ms Wild said.
“We’ve been told by people who are ground-breakers in the field that we are the first to get approval in the world for this kind of build.
“They also told us women were leading the way in the field.
“You don’t need registered building skills building an aircrete dome home … it’s very do-able for women and I’m really proud to be part of that movement.”
Finding an engineer to sign-off on her dome for council approval was the hardest part of the journey.
“Now that I’ve got approval, other people who are trying to do this bigger scale are getting approval too, which is awesome,” she said.
“That’s why we persevered, not only for us but to open it up for other people.
“If they think outside the box, they can actually afford to build a quite a large home for about $20,000 in materials.”
The winning OMG Fund ideas were recognised for their unique and inspiring designs, sustainable considerations, and novel ways of offering immersive guest experiences.
Recipients will each receive up to $100,000 USD to make their fantastical creations possible, and over the course of the next ten months, will design, construct and outfit their spaces to be guest-ready by August 2023 – when guests may find them available as part of Airbnb’s OMG! Category.
Ms Wild said part of the deal was entrant’s had to Airbnb their winning creations out for 12 months. She will then live in it herself.
Follow Ms Wild’s dome home journey through her Facebook page Aircrete Dome Elysian Falls
The tens of thousands of entries drew inspiration from the depths of the sea to sci-fi novels, but certain natural elements and architectural features proved popular.
Entrant inspirations included:
- 400 ideas offered spectacular stargazing experiences
- 961 ideas marched to the beat of their own drum, incorporating music in some way
- 777 juicy designs were inspired by fruit
- 680 ideas were wine-inspired
- 7,931 entrants proposed using solar panels for sustainable energy
- High in the sky, 1,214 ideas involved treehouses and 389 featured suspended structures
- 509 mushroom-inspired listings were ready to sprout from the earth
SUBSCRIBE here now for our FREE news feed, direct to your inbox daily!
