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How will the residential architecture of the early 21st century be remembered 50 years from now, I wonder.

Will the anthropologists of the future look back at this time as one of folly (faux French Provincial), self-indulgence (the McMansion), inefficiency (stock-standard mixed-use development) and short-sightedness (mock-Georgian townhouses)?

Or will those architectural historians of 2070 reflect on this moment as one of enlightenment and transition, when residences were built for the comfort of their inhabitants but in harmony with nature and their surroundings, and mindful of energy consumption?

Let’s face it: it’s the former that still seems to dominate our rapidly changing urban environment.

Even when these structures are built with taste and at considerable expense (and it would also seem, to their inhabitants’ satisfaction), they are not always designed with intelligence.

Orientation, ventilation, insulation, appropriate sealing, high-performance glazing … These important components are considered only when they fit a carefully circumscribed financial model – one that ensures quick build times and maximum return to the builder/developer.

In this model, air conditioning is sort of like a mechanical version of gap filler: it can camouflage design flaws and inconsistencies.

Yet there is an alternative in which the AC can work in harmony with the overall design rather than compensate for it.

Indeed, projects such as The Cape development in Victoria – this month’s cover story in Ecolibrium – attempt to show how contemporary residential architecture can combine sustainability, liveability, social cohesion and ecological restoration.

The Cape is located at Cape Paterson, a South Gippsland coastal community about two hours south-east of Melbourne.

Located on 40 hectares of former farming land, the project is a long-term labour of love for sustainability campaigner and entrepreneur Brendan Condon.

His vision is for a project that demonstrates stylish, comfortable and sustainable housing is eminently achievable.

To this end, potential customers have access to 14 pre-approved house designers and plans – among them the state’s first 10 star designed home. The blueprints are available free to any interested parties, whether they are building at The Cape or elsewhere.

Buyers wishing to develop their own blueprint at The Cape are permitted to do this, provided the design meets stringent guidelines.

These include a minimum 7.5 star energy rating, minimum 2.5kW solar PV onsite power systems, and at least 10,000 litres of rainwater storage and re-use.

Stick to the guidelines and a dwelling can achieve carbon neutrality, with running costs of $300 a year.

“We want sustainable housing to be affordable,” says Condon. “The features in our home designs really don’t cost that much, and we want to prove to the whole industry that it can adopt what we are doing here at The Cape.”

When the drivers for change to a new model are as compelling as they are obvious, well, the reasons for resistance cease to be as relevant.

So perhaps the best way forward is to follow the model set by The Cape, and for our governments to set loftier (but feasible) design guidelines for new residential builds.

In this way the houses built now will be regarded in times to come as the product of a culture that had an eye on the future rather than one that clung desperately to the past.

To read about The Cape, check out the cover story of March Ecolibrium. Go to www.airah.org.au/ecolibrium