Meet Light House ArchiScience

The way we create change is changing. Returning to our science roots.

An announcement from Jenny Edwards, sole owner and director.

I am restructuring the business due to personal health issues and the increasingly challenging economic and industry climate. Light House will no longer be offering architectural services from 2025.


[Since publishing this news I have also prepared a blog post addressing the FAQ it has triggered]

Architecture integrating science will create positive change in the housing industry. That was my hypothesis when I founded Light House in 2015 (after being Jigsaw Housing from 2010).

I’m passionate about integrating building science and design to deliver cost-effective solutions for the mainstream market. We’ve designed and delivered more than 200 integrated architecture and science projects and retrofitted hundreds of smaller budget projects. I am immensely proud of my team and what we’ve built — not just homes but a community and a “movement”.  We have won many awards for our smaller, smarter, circular, sustainable approach to housing.

We have shared our knowledge freely via multiple forums and in multiple formats, locally and nationally via industry groups, not-for-profit organisations and the media. We have sponsored and supported local and national organisations and events that shared our sustainability values and given back to our community. We have loved doing this.

For over a decade, Light House has realised our vision to:

  • be a beacon for positive change within the Australian residential industry.

  • provide the people of the Canberra region with access to beautiful, functional, comfortable, enduring, low-energy homes that connect them to their environment and community. 

  • deliver a range of innovative and affordable, quality housing options and ‘raise the bar’ for the broader industry through our holistic and collaborative approach.

During housing and cost of living crises, however, it is getting harder to deliver against our goals ten years after they were written. 

The cost to build homes in Canberra increased by 80% between 2017 and 2023

Yes, 80%. A big advantage of being a science-based business, that only does smaller, smarter, sustainable homes and works with a range of builders, is that we have a wealth of costing data at our fingertips. We are one of the few (sometimes it has felt like the only industry voice) willing to tell people just how horrendous the price increases have been over the last few years.

Our operational overheads have increased

The economic, regulatory and general industry climate has changed dramatically over the last five years – there is much less joy and satisfaction in our work. Everything takes longer in today’s world and time is money to a small business. Our margins (which were never fat) have become slimmer and slimmer while we have had to work harder and longer, rather than smarter and more sustainably like we once did. 

This means that we can’t help the people who need us most

The kinds of people we set out to help can no longer afford our services or the products of our architectural work. As a team, we’re struggling with this. Long gone are the days we could work with single mums, first home buyers and regular families. The sort of people who reflect the staff of Light House. During a housing and cost of living crisis this does not sit well with our vision.

My new hypothesis? You can’t deliver sustainable housing without sustaining the people who deliver them.

I’ve prided myself on delivering sustainable housing, via a sustainable business that has always prioritised a healthy, sustainable and flexible workplace culture for my team. But I can no longer sustain myself, my team and the business in a way that is healthy. 

Last July, I had a significant stroke following a carotid artery dissection. I spent five days in the acute stroke ward at Canberra Hospital. At the age of 52, having had three hip replacements, multiple strokes and finally being diagnosed with an unusual genetic disorder which affects several of my major arteries, I’m finally ready to admit that I need to do things differently. My Jenergy levels are low.

For Light House to stay true to its philosophy of driving delivery of sustainable housing to a mainstream market, in a sustainable way, we need to retrofit and re-innovate our model of operation.

The business is evolving in 2025

Many homes do not need architectural work to be massively improved in terms of efficiency, comfort and health. It is the science that is so often missing in housing projects and we want to focus on delivering this expertise beyond the confines of our own in-house architecture projects. It is where I began and I know first-hand from my personal work from 2009-2015 and via my small science team since 2015, just how impactful it can be.

The overall size of the Light House team will be reducing and we will no longer offer architectural services in 2025. The work of our science team will be evolving and expanding.

Science Services

We will continue to offer our current science services and we will be adding a range of new ones.

  • design reviews to discuss ways to cost-effectively optimise the energy efficiency of your house plans

  • pre-purchase energy efficiency advice to alert you to issues and highlight opportunities

  • energy efficiency consultations on your particular house, block or prospective project

  • an expert buddy service to help you navigate the renovation or new home design process, tapping into our experience, industry jargon interpretation skills and energy efficiency expertise to make sure you don’t miss opportunities to improve your design.

I am also very much looking forward to collaborating with my longtime friends and colleagues (once employees!), Andy Pickard and Hannah Angus, at Powerhaus Engineering. More specifically, I am very excited about using, and demonstrating the incredible potential of, their fabulous new app. Check it out here.

I am also still determined to help stimulate the provision of quality medium density housing via a variety of clever approaches (tried and tested by Light House) and these sorts of projects will remain my priority.

To wrap up

The aim has always been to maximise our positive impact on the mainstream housing market. There is huge demand for clever, compact, climate resilient housing and I want to help meet that demand by returning to our scientific roots from a place of sustainability. 

I am a scientist, not an architect. I am also an employer and company director — responsibilities I take very seriously. I’ve done several experiments across the last decade — I’ve collected and analysed lots of data, tested my hypotheses — and now I’m acting on the results.

We will be known as Light House ArchiScience to reflect our unique and valuable experience working with architects and builders, and all of the other associated professions, in the residential housing industry.

Thank you

Thank you to everyone who has been part of the journey so far. All of our past and current clients, all of the builders we have collaborated with and continue to collaborate with, and to my past and current staff. The Light House family is BIG and wonderful. None of Light House’s success would have been possible without the many people who shared our values.

Our impact has been expanded and our legacy further strengthened by the multiple businesses started by former staff: Cooee Architecture in Tooma, NSW; Tochi Workshop in Melbourne; Powerhaus Engineering in Bermagui and Canberra; Neighbourhood Architecture, Studio Heim, Think Make Enjoy and Tranquil Architecture here in Canberra. All of these businesses appreciate the power of integrating architecture and science to achieve great housing outcomes.

Light House Architecture & Science has shown the industry that our homes can be so much better. Onwards we go, still shining a bright light on healthy, affordable homes.

Kind regards,

Jenny

PS I own 200+ detailed, high performance, low-carbon, home designs that I would love to see re-purposed and reused. I’ll be working on that next year. During the triple whammy of climate, housing and cost of living crises, we do not have time to reinvent the wheel. Stay tuned for more on that front when I have some Jenergy back.

Light House Architecture and Science