Bass Coast Farmhouse brings drama to the Australian countryside

Bass Coast Farmhouse by John Wardle Architects is a fitting addition to the Melbourne-based architecture studio’s long tradition of immaculate rural dwellings. Situated in a coastal spot in south-west Victoria, the land of which the Boon Wurrung people have been the Traditional Custodians, the project is a family home in the countryside. 'It is a farmhouse, pure and simple,' the architects write among their key design 'rules' – other guiding principles in the process included the desire for a concrete floor, different types of windows, and a defining undercroft. 

Bass Coast Farmhouse: the exterior

From a distance, the two-storey house appears simple, reduced to a minimalist, abstract outline of an archetypal farmhouse building. However, move closer and the drama of this elaborately designed home unfolds. The structure's corrugated iron roof, timber walls and a single chimney wrap a tactile and expressive interior, clad in timber, and revealed upon entering via the undercroft's visible gabled roof structure and approach bridge. 

The house has been conceived as a powerful response to its landscape and terrain. It cantilevers over a rise and connects with the ground elsewhere, drawing on the undulating land around it. It also offers access to walking tracks linking it to the nearby ocean beach – Bass Strait.  

Bass Coast Farmhouse: the interior

Bass Coast Farmhouse's lower level hosts laundry, cellar and storeroom spaces, and an outdoor kitchen and dining area. Upstairs is the main living space, opening up to striking, long vistas. Combining rooms for both sleeping and withdrawing, and socialising, it features large openings that frame the nature around it. 

Drama aside, at its heart, the structure remains a functional agricultural home. The architects write: 'The farmhouse remains faithful to the building language of rural structures with a façade of timber and galvanised steel roofing. External timber shutters close the house to the elements and provide privacy and protection when the home is uninhabited. 

‘Timber is used extensively to line walls, floors and ceilings. The limited palette of interior materials features blackened steel and glazed tiles. Glazing is minimal, with only three types of windows in the house – a design rule that ensures natural ventilation to all spaces.' 

Adding to its connection to nature – represented through location, materials and visual links – the home also features strong sustainability credentials, as it is created to be entirely off-grid, robust, but also gentle in its spatial relationships. 

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