Type:  New rural dwelling

Date completed:  2006

Client:  2 adults [2 adult children & partners visiting regularly]

Brief:  A contemporary country home, which captures the essence of a farm house

A new dwelling on a large rural property, sitting on a gentle north-facing slope, with views over pastures to a sandstone escarpment beyond.

A largely self-sufficient property with water collection/ reuse, roof-mounted photo-voltaics , an on-site sewerage treatment system and a geothermal heating and cooling system, piped through the dams on the site.

The dwelling was envisioned as a courtyard design, surrounded by four connected living/ working volumes – living : sleeping : guest : working shed.  This courtyard provided a sense of place for the dwelling, a contained site entry and allowed for the various functions to be separated and articulated.

The resultant dwelling is a contemporary, open-planned rammed earth haven, with clearly articulated external spaces (garden courtyard and terrace).