Australia creates modular home protected against bushfires — ABC News Australia
In Australia, in the village of Manyana on the south coast of New South Wales, architect Adriano Pupilli developed Casa Manyana, a compact modular home resistant to bushfires. The project emerged after his family survived the Currowan State Forest fire during the Black Summer season in December 2019, ABC News Australia reports.
At the time, the family home in Manyana was cut off by fire. Fiona Logge, who was four months pregnant, evacuated by boat with her family to a recovery centre in Ulladulla. Pupilli returned to the shore in an attempt to save the home. When the family returned a few days later, they found that the fire had passed within a few metres of their property boundary, but the house was not damaged.
A flat-pack home
Casa Manyana has a bathroom, a loft sleeping area and a kitchenette. The structure meets the BAL 40 standard, the second-highest class of protection against bushfire exposure. Under this standard, a building must withstand intense ember exposure and almost direct contact with flames.
The construction kit can be transported in the bed of a pickup truck. According to Pupilli, the frame could be assembled in one day, while full construction can take up to two weeks. Casa Manyana costs between A$75,000 and A$120,000.
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Temporary housing after a natural disaster
Under New South Wales planning rules, temporary emergency housing projects on a residential plot do not require a development application for two years. Pupilli believes such a home could help people return to their land more quickly after a natural disaster and eventually become part of permanent housing.
The Casa Manyana prototype was installed near the family home in Manyana. The project was nominated in two categories at the 2026 Houses Awards: small project and sustainability.
The New South Wales Rural Fire Service estimates that about 90% of residents in the Shoalhaven area live in bushfire-prone areas. Acting district commander David Bartlett stressed that even a well-prepared home is unlikely to survive under catastrophic fire conditions. Fiona Logge said her family had decided to evacuate earlier in the event of another fire.
