Maxa Design

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Maxa Design Award-winning designers of high-performance homes and certified projects in Australia. Best Sustainable Design - Residential.

Maxa design stunning, stylish buildings that are beautiful to live in, replete with character and personality. Your design brief, budget and lifestyle form the basis of our concepts and we strive to keep your dream alive throughout the design process. Maxa Design are passionate about designing innovative, energy efficient and environmentally sustainable homes. Whether we are enhancing an existing building or creating a unique response to a blank canvas, we embrace the opportunities you present to us. Maxa Design endeavours to develop lasting relationships with our clients through effective communication and by ensuring that we understand your vision. We believe you should enjoy the journey and adore the creation and by working collaboratively your vision will become a reality. Particular attention is paid to:
• Passive Solar design to naturally warm and cool your home
• Passivehaus design
• Energy saving measures so your house is cheaper to run.
• Water efficiency systems
• Responsible material selection

Recent Awards:
2016 NABD (National Association of Building Designers)
Best Residential Design, New Houses, $300-$500k Construction Cost. BDAV design awards:
Best Residential Design, New Houses, $300-$500k Construction Cost.

2016 Commendation:
BDAV design awards:
Residential Design Alterations & Additions, $200-$500 Construction Cost. Culvert House Trentham.

2015 BDAV design awards:
10 Star Sustainable Design Challenge
Excellence In Use of Steel.

2014 NABD (National Association of Building Designers):
Best Environmentally Sustainable Design.

2014 BDAV design awards:
Best Environmentally Sustainable Design
Residential Alterations and Additions $200-$500k build cost. Commendation:
New House $500k-$1m build cost. Finalist - BDAV 10 star challenge

2013 BDAV Design Awards
Best Residential Design Alterations & Additions up to $200K. Best Environmentally Sustainable Design
Finalists in the 10 Star Challenge

2013 Australian Timber Design Awards
Best Small Budget Renovation

2012 BDAV Design Awards
Finalists in the 10 Star Challenge

2011 BDAV Design Awards
Best Residential Design of a New Home up to $300k
Most innovative use of brick
Finalists in the 10 Star Challenge

14/10/2026

Designing your dream home starts with being asked the right questions—and feeling that the answers have genuinely been considered.

These conversations reveal far more than a list of rooms or preferred finishes. They help uncover the experiences, priorities and aspirations that should shape the home.

We take the time to understand not only what our clients ask for, but why it matters to them. Those insights guide the decisions that follow, from the overall layout and environmental performance to the smallest practical details.

The result is more than a design. It is a home that reflects the people who live there—and feels like the dream they imagined.

10/10/2026

A Passive House should be more than an exercise in technical performance. It should be a practical, comfortable home that supports the way a family wants to live.

This completed home in Narre Warren successfully achieved Passive House certification—an important milestone that confirms the design and construction meet rigorous standards for energy efficiency, comfort and building performance.

For our clients, the real success is having a thoughtfully designed family home that delivers the outcomes they wanted, both now and into the future.

Handing over the certification in a project like this is the culmination of careful planning, detailed performance modelling and close collaboration throughout the project.

A wonderful result for our client and everyone involved in bringing the home to life.

Thermal bridging can be largely invisible in a finished home—but its effects may be felt for years.A thermal bridge occu...
08/10/2026

Thermal bridging can be largely invisible in a finished home—but its effects may be felt for years.

A thermal bridge occurs where heat can travel more easily through part of the building envelope. It commonly happens around windows and doors, balconies, structural connections and places where insulation is interrupted.

If these details are not carefully considered, they can contribute to:

• Unwanted heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer
• Colder internal surfaces and uneven room temperatures
• Increased heating and cooling demands
• Condensation, moisture and mould risk
• Reduced comfort and building durability

Addressing thermal bridging during the design stage allows junctions, materials and construction details to be assessed before they become difficult or expensive to change.

For Passive House and other high-performance homes, this forms an important part of creating a continuous thermal envelope.

Good performance is often determined by details you may never see.

If you're looking for experience in the finer details, our team are here to help.
https://www.maxadesign.com.au/passive-house-consulting

02/10/2026

What are you really paying for when you engage a building designer?

Is it simply a set of drawings and plans—or the thinking, understanding and experience behind every decision?

Before a line is drawn, your designer should understand how you want to live. Your priorities, routines, site, budget, environmental goals and vision for the future should all inform the design.

Our work goes beyond just producing drawings. We consider how the home will feel, function and perform; how spaces connect; how the site and climate can be used intelligently; and how each decision contributes to comfort, efficiency and long-term liveability.

The plans are an important outcome—but they are the result of a much deeper process.

Because a well-designed home shouldn’t simply look resolved on paper. It should feel like it was designed specifically for you.

Passivhaus design proves you don't have to sacrifice natural light to keep your home cool during a scorching summer! At ...
29/09/2026

Passivhaus design proves you don't have to sacrifice natural light to keep your home cool during a scorching summer!

At Maxa Design, proper building orientation serves as our first step in balancing natural light and temperature control. We position primary living areas to capture beneficial daylight while heavily shielding the structure from harsh afternoon heat.

We carefully calculate the size, placement, and glazing type of every window to ensure optimal performance. High-performance triple-glazed windows let sunlight flood your living spaces while reflecting intense solar radiation away from the interior.

To maintain exceptional indoor air quality without inviting the summer heat inside, we implement Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery. This system continuously supplies fresh, filtered air while extracting stale air. During the peak of summer, a bypass feature allows cooler night air to naturally purge the home of any accumulated heat.

You wake up to a refreshed, cool house, ready to face the day in a naturally bright and comfortable setting!

Contact us for a luxury home design that is as luxurious as it is low energy:
https://www.maxadesign.com.au/contact-us



Builder:
Interior Design:
Engineer: .consulting
Passivhaus Certifier: .green
Photography:
Lighting:
Windows: .windows
HRV:

Did you know that Australian buyers are willing to pay a premium for a low-running-cost home? With over two-thirds of Au...
24/09/2026

Did you know that Australian buyers are willing to pay a premium for a low-running-cost home?

With over two-thirds of Australia's housing stock built prior to modern energy standards, the demand for high-performance properties has never been higher!

Solar power is now the most requested energy feature on the market, featuring in nearly 38% of recent house sales.

Whether you are building from scratch or planning a major renovation, integrating renewable energy, proper insulation, and airtight construction pays off. Energy-efficient units are seeing a 12% price uplift, while houses are commanding nearly 15% more at auction. You can read more about this in Domain's Sustainability in Property report here - https://www.domain.com.au/research/sustainability-in-property-2025-1384255/

Make sure the home you're building or renovating is a fantastic investment as well as a great home!
https://www.maxadesign.com.au/contact-us

Homes that support, not harm, your health!Over 70% of Australian homes were built before mandatory energy standards exis...
21/09/2026

Homes that support, not harm, your health!

Over 70% of Australian homes were built before mandatory energy standards existed in 2003, making them incredibly inefficient. At the same time, heatwaves are lasting longer, nights are staying hotter, and extreme temperatures are placing growing pressure on households, energy networks, and public health systems.

Living in a house that remains stiflingly warm long into the night ruins your sleep quality. It increases stress levels, exacerbates health conditions, and drastically reduces your daily productivity.

To solve this, our sustainable and passivhaus building practices ensure your home supports your wellbeing instead of draining your energy.
https://www.maxadesign.com.au/resources-page/2026/8/6/passivhaus-in-australia-separating-the-data-from-the-debate

Blending your eco-livelihood with your lifestyle requires spaces that perform flawlessly. If you are developing an ecoto...
17/09/2026

Blending your eco-livelihood with your lifestyle requires spaces that perform flawlessly.

If you are developing an ecotourism business, permaculture hub, or a nature-based business, your built environment can respect the natural one.

Passivhaus design provides the ultimate foundation for this lifestyle, delivering exceptional indoor air quality, energy savings, and vital resilience against extreme Australian weather.

We create integrated environments where sustainable businesses thrive alongside comfortable, high-performing homes. Talk to us today!
https://www.maxadesign.com.au/passive-house-consulting

Extreme weather takes a significant toll on your sleep quality, stress levels, productivity, wellbeing, and overall qual...
14/09/2026

Extreme weather takes a significant toll on your sleep quality, stress levels, productivity, wellbeing, and overall quality of life. Because Australians spend around 90% of their time indoors, creating thermally comfortable homes is critical for both long-term health and climate resilience.

Our Forest Hill project demonstrates how intelligent, sustainable building design provides a practical solution. We apply tried-and-tested processes to craft homes that naturally resist extreme temperatures. By prioritising high-quality insulation, strategic shading, and optimal thermal mass, we ensure this home remains a comfortable refuge even on the hottest days and coldest nights.

Explore the Forest Hill project on our website to see how we design homes built to last, keeping your family comfortable and healthy year-round.
https://www.maxadesign.com.au/forest-hill



Builder:
Interior Design:
Engineer: .consulting
Passivhaus Certifier: .green
Photography:
Lighting:
Windows: .windows
HRV:

What are the best windows & glazing for a high-performing home or passive house?Windows are the weakest component of a h...
10/09/2026

What are the best windows & glazing for a high-performing home or passive house?

Windows are the weakest component of a home's thermal envelope. All windows let winter heat escape and summer heat invade. For a true high-performing or Passivhaus project, you need a strategic approach to your glazing, and generally the best quality windows you can afford.

In our projects, we tune every window's U-value and solar heat gain for its specific climate & orientation, we always incorporate external shading, and always use thermally broken frames to maximise year-round comfort.

Address

Blackburn, VIC

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

03 9013 0449 for both Melbourne and Brisbane

Website

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