BRIEF
The challenging brief for this project was to create a 'country shed' home without looking large; a unique, atypical yet striking dwelling at home in the surrounding farm typology. A fully accessible building on one level on a steep rural site and to make the most of sea views towards severe south-westerlies! The home had to be low maintenance, have a natural, earthy aesthetic, be visually engaging and provide machinery storage to fulfil the challenging and specific functional requirements of this farmlet family home. Inclusion of water tanks and a worm farm were also essential considerations.

RESPONSE
Our response was to cut the site to create a flat 'rear yard' and car parking space. We used this soil to create a sculptured mound in front of the house to conceal the lower level storage space thus achieving a smaller scale building in keeping with the proportions of the neighbouring sheds. The house was then designed in an 'L' shape to protect the outdoor living space from the wind and capture the north light. Large windows to the meals room achieve transparency between the outdoor living space through the house to the expansive water views.

THE DESIGN
This striking new take on rural contemporary Australian architecture takes cues from traditional country shearing sheds with simplicity of form and clean lines melded with an exterior palette of corrugated galvanised iron and timber. Taking a whole-site approach to the project, farm storage was embedded under the house to take advantage of the slope, while earth works sculptured the dam, landscape, and nestled the home into the ground reducing its volume from a distance. To make the most of the views, terraced vertical facades ensure every room has sea views while a secluded entertaining space makes outdoor living year-round achievable.