Adriano Pupilli, an architect from New South Wales's south coast, designed a tiny home called Manyana Casa after narrowly escaping the devastating Black Summer bushfires in December 2019. The home is rated to withstand high-risk bushfire conditions and can be assembled quickly, fitting in the tray of a utility vehicle for easy transport. Priced between $75,000 and $120,000, Casa Manyana is intended as an affordable, rapid-response housing option for those affected by disasters.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-18,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
In short:
An architect on the NSW south coast has created a design for a tiny home rated to withstand high-risk bushfire conditions.
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architect → create → conditions
Adriano Pupilli created Manyana Casa after narrowly escaping the Black Summer bushfires.
What's next?
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What → create → bushfires
The Rural Fire Service has warned that residents cannot solely rely on the design of their home to protect them from a bushfire.
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residents → warn → bushfire
Fiona Logge remembers struggling to stay calm while wading through the surf with her young family to escape the Black Summer bushfires.
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Logge → remember → bushfires
In December 2019, their holiday home in Manyana on the New South Wales south coast had been cut off by the deadly Currowan State Forest bushfire.
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home → cut → bushfire
Four months pregnant, Ms Logge said the family decided to evacuate when offered a spot in a passing boat packed with residents heading for a recovery centre in Ulladulla.
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family → say → Ulladulla
She said the hardest moment came as she watched her husband and architect Adriano Pupilli swim back to shore, determined to save their home.
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husband → say → home
"Everyone was yelling from the boat, 'No, come back!'" Ms Logge said.
"
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Logge → yell → boat
It was pretty heart-wrenching."
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It → wrench → ?
Returning days later, Mr Pupilli was stunned to discover the fire had come within metres of their property line but had left their home unscathed.
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fire → return → home
However, Ms Logge said the stress of the experience had left a heavy mental toll on the family.
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stress → say → family
"I said to Adriano, 'We're going to do that again in five years' time.'
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We → say → time
"
Turning to architecture for a solution, the experience led Mr Pupilli to create Casa Manyana — a bushfire-resistant modular home.
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experience → turn → Manyana
Nominated for two Australian architecture awards, Mr Pupilli said the project was an affordable housing option for bushfire-prone communities.
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project → nominate → communities
With a bathroom, loft bedroom and kitchenette, Casa Manyana comes with all the trappings of a modern tiny home.
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Manyana → come → home
It is also built to the second-highest bushfire attack level standard of BAL 40, meaning it can withstand high levels of ember attack and near-direct exposure to flames.
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it → build → flames
With a flat-pack design that fits in the tray of a ute, Mr Pupilli has seen the frame of the building assembled in a single day and estimates the entire build could be completed in two weeks.
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build → fit → weeks
This allows Casa Manyana to be classified as temporary emergency accommodation, allowing residents impacted by disaster to immediately start building.
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residents → allow → disaster
Under NSW planning laws, a development application for temporary emergency accommodation projects on residential land is not needed for two years.
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application → need → years
Ranging between $75,000 and $120,000, Mr Pupilli said Casa Manyana was designed to be an affordable option for those rebuilding after a disaster.
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Manyana → range → disaster
"It was this idea of like, if we did lose our house, how would we get back on the land?" he said.
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he → lose → land
It would really benefit people to have something delivered flat-pack and be able to put it together in a relatively short time in recovering after a bushfire.
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something → benefit → bushfire
"We also saw it as something that could become part of the permanent dwelling over time.
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that → see → time
With the bushfire season currently underway across the local government area, Ms Logge said the prototype version near their home in Manyana had already provided relief.
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version → say → relief
"We're starting to get some really hot days.
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We → start → days
I've already been like, 'What should I pop in from the house that can go into Casa Manyana to be protected?'" Ms Logge said.
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Logge → pop → Manyana
The project was nominated for two 2026 Houses Awards for both the small project and sustainability categories.
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project → nominate → categories
RFS urges residents to prepare for bushfire
Manyana is part of the Shoalhaven local government area, where the Rural Fire Service (RFS) estimates 90 per cent of residents live on bushfire-prone land.
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cent → urge → land
Acting RFS District Commander Superintendent David Bartlett said that while the rise of fire-resistant building materials was promising, people could not rely on the design of the house to save them from a bushfire.
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people → act → bushfire
"We don't want people to become complacent with the fact that they've constructed a dwelling that they may think is fairly well prepared for fire," he said.
"
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he → want → fire
On a catastrophic fire day, the message from us is that even a well-prepared property is probably not going to be survivable.
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property → prepare → us
"Have you experienced what it's like to be in a very large uncontrolled wildfire?
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it → experience → wildfire
A lot of people don't really know until they're in that situation.
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they → know → situation
That's why we say that it's probably best not to be in that situation in the first place."
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it → say → place
This weekend, RFS brigades across the state are hosting public events as part of Get Ready Weekend to help residents prepare for the upcoming bushfire season.
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residents → host → season
With the likelihood of bushfires increasing across the country this year due to a heightened El Niño, Ms Logge said her family had decided to evacuate early in the event of a bushfire.
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family → increase → bushfire
While the terrifying scenes of smoke and fire were never far from her mind, she said the enduring power of community gave her faith that they could meet whatever challenges the season brought this year.
"
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season → say → challenges
The way the community was there for each other was pretty incredible … the human spirit is amazing," she said.
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she → say → other
"It makes you feel a bit more brave and less alone."
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you → make → ?
The Aporia