While some celebrities settle down in mansions in California and other stars opt to crash in condos in New York, there are also famous figures who choose to live in unique homes. For instance, Kristen Wiig has a treehouse-like abode, while Drew Barrymore has a quaint RV.
Then there’s Zac Efron, who is building a truly unusual dwelling that you’ll definitely want to see.
Progress Is Being Made on Zac’s Wonderfully Unusual Abode
“Inside Zac Efron’s secret Australian rainforest retreat: New aerial photos reveal Hollywood star’s ambitious off-grid ‘forever hemp home,'” the Daily Mail reported, while noting that “the actor’s extraordinary off-grid rainforest retreat is now rapidly taking shape.”
New photos of the “High School Musical” alum’s build “show multiple steel-framed pavilions emerging across the Hollywood star’s secluded 128-hectare Tweed Valley property, with modular structures connected by elevated walkways and topped with distinctive living green roofs,” according to the Mail.
“Construction materials, earthmoving equipment, solar panels and unfinished platforms can be seen scattered across the rugged bushland site, offering the clearest look yet at the scale of Efron’s ambitious ‘Futurecave’ project,” the Mail added.
“One image shows a cluster of raised pods built into the hillside and surrounded by dense native trees, while another reveals the home’s green-roofed structures and open steel framework at close range,” the Mail notes. “Another captures the wider work site, including an excavator, access tracks, stacked building supplies and solar panels positioned near the lower edge of the property.”
Zac’s Home Will Be Made of Hemp Blocks and Oyster Shells
Zac, a.k.a. the brother of “Dancing with the Stars” competitor Dylan Efron, bought his Australian property in 2020, and the Daily Mail mentions that it “boasts waterfalls and multiple creeks, making it an ideal setting for the actor’s off-grid, zero-waste vision.”
“The project, dubbed ‘Futurecave,’ is far from an ordinary celebrity mansion, with environmental designer Joost Bakker developing experimental hemp blocks, recycled oyster shells, agricultural waste products and plant-based boards for the eco-conscious build,” the Mail explains.
“The six-bedroom, two-storey residence is expected to cost about $2.685 million to construct and will span approximately 830 square metres, according to development documents lodged with Tweed Shire Council,” per the Mail. “Designed by architect Frank Burridge of Main Studio, the property will feature a futuristic series of dispersed pods linked by walkways, green roofs covered in vegetation, a gym and sweeping views across the surrounding rainforest.”
The Mail also points out that “[p]lanning documents describe the residence as a ‘carbon-sequestering, habitat-creating home’, with the pods ‘dispersed on the site to celebrate the landscape, reduce building bulk, encourage connection to outdoors and frame key views.'”
“We’re experimenting with making hemp blocks, replacing concrete with two materials that restore the environment — hemp, possibly the best plant on earth at repairing and restoring soil health, and of course oysters, nature’s ultimate ocean restorer,” Bakker explained. “I want to create a building material that I hope will become mainstream one day — a material that naturally breathes, is anti-mould, naturally fire-resistant and improves the indoor air Zac will ultimately breathe.”
