If there’s one modern look that can spark the imagination, it’s Box Modern. Its simple boxy shape inspires huge creativity by offering endless options for design and expression. In this article, architect Joe Snell helps us break down the key features of this popular look, and how to individualise the design.

Joe Snell

A style overview of Box Modern design

Box Modern is best summarised as controlled, precise, clearly contemporary architecture. It’s characterised by the arrangement and treatment of distinct boxes, elevating the simple shape into an elegant evolution of modernist design principles.

“It's one of those names that sounds exactly as it is. It’s a modern form of architecture, which when you look at the building, is made up of a series of boxes. It’s about presenting box forms and then layering them,” explains Snell.

Crucially, it can be grandiose, with multiple boxes on top of boxes, or more humble in approach.

One of the key features of Box Modern home design is the focus on generous, strong geometric shapes to create a visually unique exterior. “You have an opportunity to push and pull the elevations or facades of those boxes back and forth,” says Snell. “You can layer them up and down, and bring different materialities to each box or texture or colour. There’s a lot of opportunity within the scope of Box Modern.”

Axon cladding

Key elements of Box Modern house design

Box Modern homes incorporate minimalist principles and showcase architectural details such as shape, roofline, and cladding, often featuring contrasting colours and bold materials. The result is visually exciting and dynamic.

Let’s explore the standout features:

Hidden roof line: “It’s a boxy look that involves a parapet. Hidden behind that parapet is a sloped roof, but you don't see those diagonal shapes,” explains Snell.

Windows: “Often aluminium windows at the facade line of the box without ornamentation or add-ons: it’s quite pared back,” he notes.

Doors: An oversized front door with stacked rectangular glass panels mimics the geometric shape of the house and lets natural light into the home. If space allows, a double door adds to the bold, grand design.

Balconies: “Balconies are set in; you can have recesses within the box where things are set in, but when you look at the building, that recess doesn't overtake the overall box look. The box form has to dominate,” Snell adds.

Expressions

A huge part of the appeal of Box Modern is the unique design expressions available.

Popular on inner-city blocks as a knockdown-rebuild solution, the Inner-City Box works to maximise interior space on smaller frontages without compromising on privacy. It is also a popular solution to side-by-side subdivisions in the inner-city.

The Drummoyne Project is an example of the Inner-City Box expression, demonstrating how a spacious home can be delivered with a minimalist Box Modern look on a small plot.

Inner-City Box

Tiny Box is another bold expression. A diminutive style with efficiency and sustainability at its core, it is characterised as modular forms with flat or shed roofs; light and height are also defining features of the style.

BuildHer Collective’s Rathmine's Project embodies this, with its textural and tonal materiality highlighting its boxy expression.

Tiny Box

Box Modern Coastal is yet another expression, seamlessly blending the clean lines and simplicity of Box Modern design with the natural-look materials and laidback vibe of modern coastal style, like in this stunning example by AK Building Design.

Box Modern Coastal

Romulus by Pacifik Design Studio is a breathtaking showcase of grandiose Box Modern expression, featuring both Matrix™ cladding and Axon™ cladding from the Hardie™ Architectural Collection.

Box Modern

How to learn more

Bold, precise and contemporary, the Box Modern style is characterised by large blocks or cube-shaped volumes that are stacked, intersecting, or arranged to form compelling, contemporary residences. If you love this style and are keen to learn more, download the Box Modern Design Handbook.

Inside the Handbook, discover cladding solutions and inspiration, how to use complementary and contrasting materials and textures, winning colour palettes and combinations, as well as how to complete the look.

Architecture & Design Team

Box Modern: Design Handbook (2024)

James Hardie Australia

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