Force of Nature–New Take on Contemporary Farmhouse

The banter between architect Antony Martin and his client speaks volumes about the warm, funny, creative partnership that brought this unusual project to life. Self-deprecating humour, amusing honesty, teasing, laughter, unwavering empathy and deep mutual respect. It’s a great yarn and they’ve done a top job. But it nearly didn’t happen.

The client was living in a terrace house in Melbourne when, pre-pandemic and with a view to retirement, she bought a 16-hectare sheep farm outside Warragul. Her love of German Shepherds had introduced her to a staggeringly niche hobby they could share: sheep herding. She found a working farm with an old wooden cottage ringed by sheds in a pleasing arrangement that reminded her of old English stables and bought the place as a weekender.

There’s a hill here with stunning views of the Strzeleckis and the Great Diving Range. It’s crying out for the conventional farmhouse-on-the-hill treatment. But this woman is a force of nature and convention was never on the cards. She loved the shed configuration and the cottage location slap bang in the middle of the action between service yard and paddocks.

She turned to Antony out of curiosity initially. He’s got a way with country homes. How might she replace the claustrophobic cottage with a one-level house and garden that fully embraces farm life and is 100 per cent accessible for a friend with mobility issues? She was upfront about this being an exploration that may or may not ever be built.

“She was intriguing,” Antony recalls. “Often people say they have a clear idea of what they want but it doesn’t take much digging to discover they’re open to other ideas. She was actually quite set on a particular approach and siting and relationship to the sheds.” Close to the road. No bucolic hilltop views. Less-than-optimal orientation to the north which put living areas to the south. “It took us a while to get our heads around that,” he concedes.

Once they did, the solution came easily: a courtyard house that closes the circle of “funny shaped sheds … with roofs of different pitches”. Plenty of glazing to capture views through to gardens and paddocks beyond. Interlinked pavilions clad entirely in economical corrugated Colorbond, echoing the sheds’ materiality, wonky geometry and down-to-earth character. “We used the farm as a model for the house itself,” Antony says. The client loved the concept so much that she not only gave the green light to proceed, she and her dogs lived on-site in a horse float for the COVID-era build and ultimately moved in full time. The increasingly wholehearted collaboration that developed clearly entertained both parties immensely. “As time went on, I was having a lot of fun,” she laughs. “I enjoyed telling them what they were good and bad at.”

The home’s pinwheel plan radiates out from a scrabbled concrete column at the junction of the central living pavilion’s kitchen, dining and loungeroom spaces and the stunning courtyard garden by SBLA Studio. The dark aggregate-flecked column becomes freestanding when the dining and living room’s huge, glazed sliders are pushed back, opening the house to a serene oasis that’s as far from sheep farm vibes as it gets. Part Japanese meditation garden, part Baw Baw National Park, it mesmerises with sculptural snow gums and granite slabs slowly being swallowed by vines and creepers. “I love the calm,” the owner says. “When I’m in here there’s nothing to overstimulate me. It’s reflective living.”

Secondary spaces include a two-bedroom guest wing and a master suite with knockout views to the east. Each of these pavilions pinwheels out in a cluster of its own, linked to the living pavilion by glazed entry points. The garage wing includes a delightfully bespoke laundry-cum-mudroom with custom facilities including a professional dog-wash. For someone who wasn’t sure she wanted to build this place, the client is now reluctant to leave it. “In autumn it’s hard to get out of bed,” she says. “The sun is gold and low, it goes through those trees and casts shadows, and if there’s a bit of frost on the ground or mist over on the hill it is magic. I never stop thinking about Keats. What it’s given me is so many shades of light and so many variations on a view that I never tire of and I never ignore it.”

Antony laughs recalling his team’s initial ambivalence about their client’s highly specific requirements. Red flags were raised. But like her, he’s now all-in. “Best client relationship ever,” he declares. “She was engaged and interested, and she liked to challenge you. But she would listen and hear what you were saying. It was pretty special. Our most successful projects are when clients have that curiosity and engagement.”

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