Book a brutalist one-room wonder Down Under, the Vipp Tunnel in Tasmania

Set in the bush on Bruny Island, off the south-west coast of Tasmania and accessible only by ferry, Danish design label Vipp’s latest bookable guesthouse, Tunnel (joining properties including the Vipp Salaca River in Latvia, and Vipp Todos Santos in Mexico, for example), balances beauty, brutalism and seclusion.

Tour Vipp Tunnel, Tasmania

The origin of the house’s name is quite apparent. Vipp Tunnel features a linear layout of rooms crafted from concrete panels, including one bedroom and a bathroom, an open central courtyard, a kitchen, a sunken living area, and a covered patio.

As you open each of the hefty steel doors, stretching from the front to the back of the building, a tunnel view of the D’Entrecasteaux Channel appears.

As the sun sets, its rays strike the glass ceiling, casting a vibrant shard of amber light across the living room eaves. This tunnel-shaped skylight, made of orange, purple, and green glass, was designed at precise angles to create a constantly evolving chromatic show.

‘It’s like natural mood lighting,’ says Josh Mayne, one of the architects from Hobart firm Room 11 who worked on the project. ‘Throughout the day, when the sun passes over, it picks up the different panes of glass and brings out the different colours.’

Owner Dane Taylor bought the unoccupied land – known as a ‘bush block’ in Australia – sight unseen in 2021. He liked Room 11’s visual style and had begun the design process with them when the architects received a call from the Danish design company Vipp, which was looking to add a southern hemisphere property to its collection of guesthouses in unique environments. Thankfully, the visions of all three parties gelled and, after three years of design and building, Vipp Tunnel welcomed its first visitors in March 2025.

Polished concrete and glass are the principal materials used throughout. Underfloor heating keeps the spaces warm during Tasmania’s cool winters while opening the series of doors in summer invites cooling breezes inside.

The house is self-sufficient. The western façade is completely covered by a black solar array, while the concrete provides thermal insulation. Rainwater is collected for use around the property. Before the building designs were approved by the local council, every tree on the site was surveyed to avoid any damage.

As well as the main building, there is what has been dubbed ‘the studio’ about 200m away. It is one of Mayne’s favourite pieces in this architectural puzzle. ‘I think a lot of people overlook it,’ he says. ‘You’ve got a tunnel in the accommodation then, off to the side, there’s this grand studio. It’s open to interpretation what you can do with it – it’s almost like an adult’s playroom.’

Within the studio is a fitted desk, a chair – like all the furniture and fittings within the house, it is from Vipp’s collection – a loft with a mattress and a bathroom. ‘Where the Tunnel is more refined in its view, the studio is quite the opposite, with massive sheets of glass that open up a completely different aspect of the site,’ continues Mayne. ‘The juxtaposition of the two is a strong point of the overall design.’

Bruny is known for its pristine beaches, wild nature and cheese and oysters. A car is required to access them, or you can spend your days revelling in the setting. In the morning, take a coffee to the yoga platform and watch seals patrolling the shoreline. Later in the day, fill the outdoor bath and soak beneath the eucalypts while shy wallabies nibble at green shoots. At nighttime, in the courtyard, accompanied by Lin Utzon’s Cosmic Dance sculptures and a single birch tree, look up – the sky as wild as the surrounding landscape.

vipp.com