The Oculus
Northern New South Wales
A 21 square metre relocatable dwelling, road legal and held under 4.5 tonnes, built in 2025 as the first and only model of Retreat House, a transportable dwelling company started by the builder Chris King. It is modelled on the Australian shed: local hardwood timber walls, a finely corrugated metal roof, a plywood lined interior, and eaves that slide out of custom welded brackets for the journey. The oculus is a large opening skylight at the peak of the roof, there for light, stack ventilation, a view of the sky and passive cooling.
Hayley Pryor, a registered architect in Byron Bay, designed it; King commissioned it, built it and sells it. This first one stands on his own rural property at Wooyung, about twenty minutes north of Byron Bay, where it can be booked for a stay.
Hayley Pryor
Hayley Pryor is a registered architect practising as Hayley Pryor Architect from Byron Bay, on Bundjalung Country.
Retreat House
Retreat House is Chris King's transportable dwelling company, making climate responsive mobile buildings designed by architects; King also runs Chris King Constructions from Bangalow, with close to thirty years in building.
@retreathouse.au. Design and build Chris King (@chriskingconstructions). Architecture Hayley Pryor (@hayleypryor_architect). Interior design Skye McCloud-Taylor. Photography @timclark.studio. Seen via @huntingforgeorge.
The picture comes from this post on Instagram.
Researched August 2026. I credit each piece as carefully as I can; if you know more about this one, message me on Instagram.