A Modernist-Inspired Farmhouse In The Byron Bay Hinterland
Architecture
The brief for this farmhouse in Brooklet stipulated a ‘simple, special and functional’ home.
Designed by Seven Mile Architects, the home references mid-century homes from around the globe, most prominently the 1959 house of artist Pierre Soulages on Mont Saint-Clair.
The Northern Rivers home embraces its surrounding wide open spaces with openings to the outdoors from almost every room.
Strategic landscaping ensures privacy to the bathrooms without obscuring views.
The undercover outdoor dining area.
Floor-to-ceiling doors slide away to completely open up the centre of the home.
Calacatta viola stone in the kitchen provides a focal point, softened by curving shapes across the joinery and banquette seat.
Simple forms and linear elements hark back to the modernist principles of the home.
Views from the bathroom.
An operable window provides a breeze while bathing.
The bathrooms showcase travertine bench tops and vanities.
Leftover travertine pieces were repurposed into floating stone shelves.
The bathrooms and bedrooms are contained to their own wing of the home.
Curving joinery features throughout.
Chalky limewash paint coats the external render of the home, designed to sit within the landscape.
The brief for this farmhouse in Brooklet stipulated a ‘simple, special and functional’ home.
Given this and the Northern Rivers site with expansive rolling hill views, Seven Mile Architects identified mid-century modernist architecture as a suitable style for the new house.
Their list of references spanned from the 1959 artist Pierre Soulages designed by Jean Rouzaud in Sète, France, to contemporary interpretations such as the 2015 Sapphire House by Virginia Kerridge in nearby Lennox Head.
‘The principles of modernist architecture, emphasising open, light-filled spaces with a strong indoor-outdoor connection, aligned with their vision and also seemed well-suited for the site with such expansive vistas in most directions,’ says architect Jessica Blair.
The resulting home adopts a Z-shaped floor plan that positions the open-plan dining, kitchen, and living area on an even plain. Floor-to-ceiling doors slide away to completely open this area up to the outdoor entertaining and pool area.
The bedrooms are contained to their own wing of the home, which maintains the same connection to the outdoors through multiple direct openings and strategic landscaping that simultaneously ensures privacy to the bathrooms.
On the other side of the house, a spacious carport houses all utilities, connecting to a mudroom and laundry where muddy boots can be left behind before stepping inside.
Aesthetically, simple forms and linear elements hark back to the modernist principles of the home.
Chalky limewash paint coats the external render, harmonising with limestone crazy paving that extends from low-maintenance burnished concrete floors internally.
Calacatta viola stone in the kitchen provides a focal point, softened by curving shapes across the joinery and banquette seat.
Despite its relatively large size, this house doesn’t feel overbearing upon approach.
Seven Mile Architects are proud of how the home sits within the landscape, achieved by ‘stepping down’ the bedroom wing within the hillside. ‘This also creates a layering effect with the roof lines,’ says Jessica.
The landscape remains the hero, as nature always intended.
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