wimmera farm-house

Located in the Wimmera, just south of Dyurrite (Mt Arapiles), this farmhouse is home to a family with three young children. It is set within an expansive landscape of cropping, dotted with bulokes and red gums.

 

The lives of farming families are entwined with the landscape they cultivate. The farm is their workplace, providing a livelihood where fortunes turn on the vagaries of every season, but it is also their home, a place to rest and gather with friends and family.

 

The brief for this project encapsulates this duality: the building is both a domestic space and the centre of an agricultural workplace. The importance of the house in daily life is also elevated by its isolation, where more time is spent at home and visits to town are infrequent.

 

The siting of the house is driven by the harsh sun and strong winds across the plains. The cranked floor plan creates a sheltered northern face looking towards Dyurrite, along which a verandah doubles as an external circulation space, while the elevated floor level lifts the house above the wind driven dust.

 

Internal planning is zoned along an east-west axis, with the farm office, meeting and utility spaces for workers located close to the farm access and machinery sheds at the eastern end, followed by a guest room, children’s rooms, shared living spaces and the parents’ wing on the west. Utilities and parking are located on the south.

 

The southern corridor that links these zones is also designed to be inhabited, forming an enfilade of informal study, sitting and threshold spaces that lead into the living area at the centre of the plan. Large picture windows in bedrooms and living spaces frame views across the landscape in multiple directions.

 

The simple form and hard-wearing materiality reflect the pragmatism underlying the Australian rural vernacular. The house is viewed as an intergenerational investment and it has been designed with long term durability in mind. Internally, the material palette draws on the olive and gold hues of Jardwadjali Country. External walls are made from locally sourced bricks, while the galvanized roofing and verandah posts sit comfortably alongside farm sheds and silos.

Project Team:

Architects: Daniel Cooper, Bianca Scaife, Xavier Renehan & Georgie Broeren.
Structural Engineer: Tonkin Consulting Engineers.
Builder: Huf Builders

Photographer: Tess Kelly