Living Canvas

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  • 2026

  • Product
    Hardware and Building

Designed By:

Commissioned By:

Otetto

Designed In:

Australia

Living Canvas™ is Australia’s first prefabricated hempcrete Structural Insulated Panel system — designed for builders, architects, and developers who need high-performance, NCC-compliant building solutions without the environmental cost. Wall, roof, and floor cassettes. 100% Australian hemp. Carbon-negative, mould-resistant, and built to last generations.


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Gary Parker
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Gary Parker
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Gary Parker
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Gary Parker
  • CHALLENGE
  • SOLUTION
  • IMPACT
  • MORE
  • The challenge was to develop a viable, commercially ready hemp-based Structural Insulated Panel (SIP) product for the Australian construction market — where no such system existed at scale. The brief required solving for structural performance, thermal efficiency, moisture management, fire resistance, and NCC compliance, all within a single prefabricated panel. Limitations included translating a traditionally slow, labour-intensive material into a factory-manufactured prefabricated system, establishing local hemp supply chains, and navigating a performance-based compliance pathway with limited Australian precedent. The result needed to be crane-installable, customisable, and competitive against conventional systems — without compromising on sustainability credentials.

  • Born from over a decade of hands-on hempcrete building experience, Living Canvas™ identified that the material's potential would never scale through in-situ application alone. The solution — prefabricating hempcrete SIPs into crane-liftable panels across wall, roof, and floor systems.A pilot home in Northern Rivers validated the system end-to-end fully approved and operational as a blueprint for what high-performance, carbon-negative residential construction looks like in Australia.The result — Australia's first prefabricated hempcrete panel system, replacing up to five conventional material layers with one.

  • Living Canvas™ marks a fundamental shift in how Australia builds.It is the only scalable, NCC-compliant hempcrete SIP system in the country — on a clear trajectory toward price parity with conventional construction. Each home sequesters 50 tonnes of CO₂, delivers 60% lower heating and cooling costs, and eliminates the toxic materials that make mould illness a hallmark of conventional builds. At scale, it strengthens Australian hemp farming, sovereign manufacturing, and regional employment.Living Canvas doesn’t ask people to compromise for sustainability. It makes sustainability the smarter choice.

  • Living Canvas™ panels are Australia's first prefabricated hempcrete SIP system, delivering structure, insulation, acoustic performance, moisture management, and fire resistance in a single integrated layer. Key features include R-values from R1.4 to R6.0, a pH 12 lime binder that naturally inhibits mould, and carbon-negative credentials — sequestering 50 tonnes of CO₂ per home. Panels are crane-liftable, customisable to project requirements, and compatible with a range of vapour-permeable finishes. The complete system spans wall, roof, and floor cassettes — manufactured under controlled conditions, delivered to site ready to install. 100% Australian hemp. 100% Australian made.