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      Longhouse by Partners Hill spans 110 metres across Australian bushland

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      Architecture practice Partners Hill has designed this lengthy shed-style home in the Australian town of Daylesford, Victoria to incorporate living, cooking and agricultural facilities.Described by Partners Hill as “a study in inclusion”, Longhouse contains a farm, restaurant-cum-cookery school, guest rooms and living quarters for its owners, Ronnen Goren and Trace Streeter.
      The practice worked alongside Goren and Streeter over a period of 10 years to design the multifunctional property.

      “The Longhouse recalls a Palladian tradition of including living, working, storing, making in a single suite rather than referring to the Australian habit of casual dispersal,” said the practice’s founding partner, Timothy Hill.

      “It emphasises how much – or how little – you need for a few people to survive and thrive. A handful of animals, enough water and year-round crops.”

      Nestled amongst a 20-acre plot of land just outside the town of Daylesford, the 110-metre-long building overlooks rolling plains of bushland.
      Goren and Streeter were charmed by the site’s natural vistas but, after several visits, came to realise that the area was subject to extreme weather conditions including strong winds, erratic downpours of rain and snow during the colder months.
      A variety of animals such as kangaroos, wallabies and foxes could also be found roaming the site.

      This “beautiful but hostile” environment is what encouraged Partners Hill to design Longhouse as a huge shed-like structure which would be “big enough and protected enough for the landscape to flourish inside”.
      Translucent panels of glass-reinforced polyester wrap around the exterior of Longhouse, which is punctuated by a series of windows that offer views of the landscape.

      “Smart gel-coated cladding provides different levels of UV and infrared resistance,” explained the practice.
      “Panels with different finishes have also been deployed to optimise solar penetration and shading depending on the orientation of each facade and roof plane.”

      An algorithm was used to design the home’s 1,050-square-metre roof, which has been specifically sized to harvest an optimum amount of rainwater.
      Any water collected is stored in a series of tanks around the site – some of which are concealed by grassy banks – and can be used to service different rooms. It can also be used in the event of a bushfire.

      The main entrance to Longhouse is at the western end of the building, which plays host to a sizeable garage for storing farm machinery and an enclosure for the cows, pigs and fowl.
      A short walkway leads through to the kitchen where cookery workshops are held and meals are rustled up for guests dining at Longhouse. Designed to appear as a “surprisingly lush haven”, the space is bordered by leafy trees and plant beds overspilling with foliage.
      Vine plants also wind down from the ceiling.

      Australian cypress pine has been used to craft a majority of fixtures and furnishings, selected by the practice for its resistance to rot.
      The same timber has been combined with red bricks to form a couple of gabled structures that accommodate cosy eating areas.
      Some elements, like the kitchen hearth, are built from glazed clay tiles.

      Partners Hill hides Aesop pop-up among the undergrowth at Tasmanian music festival

      A set of stairs leads up to the guest rooms on the first floor, referred to as The Stableman’s Quarters. One of them features warm orange walls and is centred by an oversized daybed piled high with plump cushions.

      Goren and Streeter’s private living quarters, nicknamed The Lodge, are also located on Longhouse’s first floor. Surfaces throughout have been painted a pale shade of blue.
      “Even in the depths of cold, grey winters – there is an uplifting sense of blue skies and long sunsets every day,” added the practice.
      In a nod to the owners’ passion for 19th and 20th-century interiors, the practice has also included a handful of decor elements that “recall the manors of a bygone era” such as clawfoot bathtubs and ornate ceiling roses.

      Partners Hill is led by Timothy Hill, Simon Swain and Domenic Mesiti. Previous projects by the practice include a wooden pavilion for skincare brand Aesop – the structure was specially created for a Tasmanian music festival and was shrouded by shrubbery.
      Photography is by Rory Gardiner.
      Project credits:
      Architecture, interior design and landscaping: Partners HillCladding fabricator: Ampelite

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      Wood and white brick feature in Perth extension by David Barr Architects

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      David Barr Architects has added a bright and roomy two-floor extension to a cottage near Perth, Australia so that its owners can have their grown-up children come to stay. The cottage is situated in the port city of Fremantle along Marine Terrace road, from where the project takes its name. Marine belongs to a couple
      The post Wood and white brick feature in Perth extension by David Barr Architects appeared first on Dezeen. More

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      Black shutters and concrete wall conceal Te Pakeke retreat in New Zealand

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      This holiday home in New Zealand by Fearon Hay Architects hides from neighbouring properties while having uninterrupted views of the mountainous landscape.Te Pakeke house is situated north of the popular resort town Wanaka, surrounded by mountains and looking out across the waters of a vast lake.
      Its owners had tasked Fearon Hay Architects with creating a winter holiday retreat that had the feel of a secluded cabin.

      However, as the site was positioned on the corner of an arterial road, it meant the house would be visible to neighbouring properties and passersby.

      With this in mind, the practice worked to create a series of layers around Te Pakeke that can provide the owners with a sense of privacy.

      An L-shaped concrete wall wraps around the front of the house, obscuring it from view. It also offers protection from chilly prevailing winds.
      Beyond the wall is a gravelled courtyard where inhabitants can sit and relax throughout the day.

      A series of perforated black screens that are each edged with brass have then been made to wrap around the Te Pakeke’s facade.

      House in New Zealand sits on a concrete plinth surrounded by trees

      These can be pushed back concertina-style to open up the interiors to the surrounding landscape – when closed, they almost completely black-out the interior and give a shadowy look to living spaces.

      Inside, the house has been finished with moody concrete walls. Concrete has also been used for elements such as the breakfast island and countertops in the kitchen.
      Textural interest is added by a boxy mirrored volume that conceals laundry facilities. The practice specifically selected a reflective material so that this part of the home would appear to “dissolve” within the interior.

      In a nod to the materiality of traditional cabins, beams of timber have been used to line the house’s ceiling.
      Tree stump-like side tables also appear in the living room, which has a plump grey sofa and metal-frame armchair arranged around a wood burner.

      Fearon Hay Architects was founded in 1998 by Tim Hay and Jeff Fearon. The practice was exclusively based in Auckland, New Zealand until 2018 when they opened a studio in Los Angeles.
      Other residential projects that, like Te Pakeke, benefit from views of New Zealand’s impressive landscape include Kawakawa House by Herbst Architects, which perches on a concrete plinth overlooking a dense canopy of pōhutukawa trees, and Avalanche House by Intuitive Architects, which frames dramatic vistas of a mountain range.
      Photography is by Simon Wilson.

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      Aurora Arquitectos transforms ruined Lisbon building into fun family home

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      A fireman’s pole lets children slide down between floors in this house that Aurora Arquitectos has created in Lisbon, Portugal.The building that the house occupies is nestled along Bartolomeu Dias street, west of central Lisbon.

      Although the structure had fallen into a state of almost complete ruin, it was purchased by a couple who wanted to establish a home where they could live for the foreseeable future and raise their three young children.

      Aurora Arquitectos was tasked with carrying out the residential conversion.

      “This is an upstream project in a time when the city has been gradually emptied from its inhabitants under the pressure of tourism and real estate speculation,” said the practice.
      “This is a project of resistance since it grows from the desire of a family wanting to remain in its own neighbourhood.”

      The original building was two storeys and measured just 60 square metres.
      As Aurora Arquitectos had to reconstruct nearly the entire building, it decided to extend the structure to create three more storeys and an extra 169 square metres of space.
      The new portion of the building has been painted bright white.

      “The family lived for some years in the Netherlands in a typical townhouse, known as a typology that has a vertical distribution of the program, so we can also say that influenced the design process,” the practice explained to Dezeen.

      Aurora Arquitectos opens up 1970s apartment in Lisbon with angular skylights and folding walls

      Inside, the traditional arrangement of rooms has been reversed. The sleeping quarters are on the bottom two floors, while the communal living spaces have been spread across the upper three floors to benefit from views of the nearby Tejo river.

      This excludes the playroom that has been situated at the rear of the ground floor, complete with curving in-built shelves where the kids can display their toys.
      The room can be reached via a fireman’s pole that extends from the kid’s bedroom directly above.

      “The family has three children and they like to spend all their time together, so the option was to concentrate their sleeping area,” added practice.
      “But once they grow up and need separate bedrooms one can transform the playroom into a bedroom, and the pole area into a bathroom.”

      As the playroom faces onto a narrow lane often frequented by pedestrians, the rear elevation of the home has been fitted with oversized privacy shutters that can be slid across the windows.
      On the home’s front elevation, the practice has simply restored the existing patterned tiles and freshened up the “Lisbon-green” paint that features on the doors.

      Rooms across all levels of the home have timber flooring and white walls, cabinetry and light fixtures. Perforated white metal forms the treads of some of the staircases.
      A splash of colour is provided by a recessed window in the kitchen that the practice refers to as “the green eye” as it is lined with jade-coloured Verde Viana marble.

      On the fifth floor is an outdoor terrace inset in the house’s pitched roof.
      The terrace is backed by a glass wall that looks down to the home’s living room on the fourth floor. Here there is a large window seat where the inhabitants can sit and relax with a book.

      Aurora Arquitectos was established in 2010 by Sofia Couto and Sérgio Antunes.
      The practice has completed a number of other projects around the Portuguese city of Lisbon – others include a brightly-hued hostel that occupies an old family home, and a renovated 1970s apartment that features angular skylights and folding walls.
      Photography is by Do Mal O Menos.
      Project credits:
      Architecture: Aurora ArquitectosArchitecture team: Sérgio Antunes, Sofia Reis Couto, Carolina Rocha, Bruno Pereira, Tânia Sousa, Rui Baltazar, Dora JerbicBuilding supervision: GesconsultEngineering: Zilva, Global, LDAConstruction: Mestre Avelino

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      Farnsworth House installation replicates Edith Farnsworth's original decor

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      Farnsworth House, the glass house designed by Mies van der Rohe in Illinois, has been redecorated for an installation to feature furnishings and personal belongings of its original client Edith Farnsworth.Edith Farnsworth’s Country House is the centrepiece of an exhibition series called Edith Farnsworth Reconsidered that explores the house’s namesake.
      The installation marks the first time in over 50 years the all-glass residence raised above ground by pilotis is furnished with Farnsworth’s original decor.

      “The Farnsworth House is known around the world as Mies’s ‘gesamtkunstwerk’ (total work of art), but that’s a false history and one that largely ignores the home’s namesake, Dr Edith Farnsworth,” said Farnsworth House executive director Scott Mehaffey.

      For the installation the Farnsworth House and the National Trust for Historic Preservation referenced old photographs of the space taken by Hedrich-Blessing, André Kertész and Werner Blaser. These date back to when Farnsworth occupied it to replicate the design of the space as it would have appeared in 1955.
      Farnsworth, a celebrated research physician, commissioned Van der Rohe to design the country house completed along the Fox River, in Plano, Illinois in 1951.

      While Farnsworth lived there in the 1950s to 60s the house was decorated with her preferred taste of Scandinavian and Italian furniture from designers such as Florence Knoll, Jens Risom, Bruno Mathsson and Franco Albini and with Asian antiques.

      In 1970 the residence was sold to British real estate mogul Baron Peter Palumbo, who outfitted the house with pieces by Van der Rohe and his grandson, Dirk Lohan. These are the furnishings typically on display in the space.
      “For Edith Farnsworth, it was a weekend house – for Peter Palumbo, it was an architectural monument: two fundamentally different viewpoints,” Mehaffey said.

      Geometry of Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House illuminated with red lasers

      “So through this installation, we experience the Farnsworth House as the client actually occupied the space – and I think this gives us a much better sense of who she was as a person, and what the house meant to her.”
      In the main living area, which opens out to the two lifted terraces, there is a wood dining table with white metal legs, a black and white rug with a geometric pattern and two curvy lounge chairs with woven straps.

      The centre of the house is occupied by a large rectangular structure used to divide the space and house its mechanics and two bathrooms. One length of the volume is fronted with the kitchen, while the opposite side is furnished with a daybed and chairs that face a small fireplace.

      The bedroom is located at one end of the wood volume and is partitioned by an office tucked into the corner of the house.
      A glass desk with crossed legs overlooks the green landscape in the workspace. On top of the work surface there is a replica of Farnsworth’s typewriter, a framed family photograph and books and on the ground next to the table is her medical briefcase.

      Most of the furnishings on display are commercially-sold reproductions of Farnsworth’s original pieces, while the wardrobe, daybed and Asian slipper chairs are custom-built replicas.
      In addition to the furniture pieces the installation also showcases personal belongings Farnsworth is known to have owned, including potted plants, dish ware, linens, a violin, and a typewriter.

      “We’ve personalised the installation with replicas of her violin, her typewriter, her books, family photos, monogrammed towels and other personal effects – to help conjure her presence,” Mehaffey said.
      Edith Farnsworth Reconsidered and its components will continue through December 2021 with a VR tour and a number of other programmes in the on-site galleries, including an exhibition that focuses on Farnsworth’s life, career and hobbies.

      “Related programmes and events will also celebrate Edith Farnsworth’s life and times,” Mehaffey added. “All of this places the Farnsworth House in a broader, richer context than ever before – it’s no longer ‘All about Mies.'”
      The Farnsworth House opened to the public in 2004 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006.

      To highlight the house’s unusual geometries and history Iker Gil and Luftwerk projected red lasers across the building and surrounding property. In 2014 there was a proposal to lift the structure with hydraulic jacks to avoid the region’s flooding, however, the system was never implemented.
      Photography is by William Zbaren.

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      Tsubo House in Hackney features tiny Japanese-style courtyard

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      Architecture practice Fraher & Findlay has renovated and extended a home in east London, adding a small courtyard that offers glimpses of old and new parts of the property.Tsubo House was originally built in Hackney during the Victorian era and over the years had come to look shabby and unloved.
      The house’s current owners – the founders of Studio XAG – brought architecture practice Fraher & Findlay on board to carry out a complete overhaul.

      As part of the works, the Brockley-based practice constructed a spacious back-garden extension.

      It was key for this new living space to feel closely connected to existing rooms in the home and not too distanced from the basement level, which is often utilised by visiting friends and family.

      Fraher & Findlay decided to insert a small courtyard at ground level that would visually link together the new and existing parts of the home.

      Fraher & Findlay adds wildflower-topped extension to London house

      It draws upon tsubo-niwas – tiny interior courtyards that are incorporated into Japanese buildings to provide natural views and bring in additional sunlight.
      The courtyards are traditionally the same size as a tsubo, a Japanese measuring unit of 3.3 square metres that’s roughly equivalent to the area of two tatami mats.

      “We wanted an external environment to act as a pivot point between the spaces, whilst acting as an environmental tool to bring in lots of natural light and to aid natural ventilation,” said the practice.
      “It feels like a quiet force, providing life energy to the house.  it is visible from all the rooms in the house with the exception of two bedrooms and one bathroom.”

      The pebbled courtyard is centred by a tree and has an array of potted plants running around its periphery. Leafy climbing plants also wind up its rear wall.
      One window of the courtyard looks through to the older front section of Tsubo House, while the another has views of the new rear extension that accommodates a kitchen and dining area.

      Designed to feel “textured, calm and lived in”, the kitchen has been finished with pink raw-plaster walls and timber joinery. Some of the brass light fixtures were also sourced second-hand from eBay, complementing the curved brass handles on the cupboards.
      The extension has a slatted black-timber facade and a green roof, which the studio introduced so that, when viewed from the baby’s nursery upstairs, this part of the home would look as if it’s wearing a “hairy hat”.
      Flooring of the extension was also made lower than the rest of the home, as a mid-way between the ground and basement levels.

      Plaster surfaces continue through into the home’s living room, which the practice has updated to match the owners’ creative personalities. It’s dressed with velvet furnishings, shaggy rugs and a bubblegum-pink edition of Faye Toogood’s Roly-Poly chair.
      Decades-old paintwork has also been stripped back from the ornate cornices, ceiling roses and skirting boards.

      More quirky features appear upstairs – the nursery, for example, has a midnight blue ceiling speckled with stars, and all of the bathrooms feature graphic monochromatic tiled floors. One even includes its own fireplace and a freestanding jet-black tub.
      The project also saw Fraher & Findlay create a loft extension for Tsubo House that accommodates an additional bedroom and wash facilities.

      Fraher & Finlay was established in 2009. The practice has previously created a wildflower-topped extension and renovated a home to feature traces of its original architecture.
      Photography is by Adam Scott.
      Project credits:
      Architect: Fraher & FindlayInterior design: Studio XAGEngineer: PD DesignContractor: Steflay DevelopmentsGarden and planting design: Miria Harris

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      Ruxton Rise Residence in Melbourne is arranged around a planted courtyard

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      A courtyard dotted with olive trees sits at the heart of this grey-brick home in Melbourne that Studio Four has created for its own co-director.Ruxton Rise Residence has been built for Studio Four’s co-director, Sarah Henry, and sits on a greenfield site in Beaumaris – an affluent suburb of Melbourne that’s host to a number of mid-century properties.
      While keeping in mind the mid-century typology, Henry was keen to create a tranquil home where she could spend quality time with her two daughters.

      “Designing for my own family was an opportunity to pare back a home to the bare essentials, and explore what is required for a young family to live minimally and mindfully,” Henry told Dezeen.

      “The house exemplifies the absence of what is not necessary, in both building form and detail,” she continued.
      “If I could summarise the objective for our new house in one sentence, it would be to create a little bit of something precious rather than a lot of something mediocre.”

      All the communal spaces of Ruxton Rise Residence face onto a central open-air courtyard planted with olive trees.
      It’s designed to act as an additional room in the house where inhabitants can gather together to enjoy the sun, or relax alone with a book.

      “Physically the house envelopes the central garden,” explained the studio’s other co-director, Annabelle Berryman.
      “It connects all internal living spaces and the design enables everyone to enjoy the house together, while providing subtle layers of separation and privacy,” she continued.
      “The landscape, and its movement and shadows, provide a calming effect that permeates the whole house.”

      The courtyard is bordered by a series of expansive glazed panels. These can be slid back to access the home’s interior, where the studio has forgone “trends and illusions” and instead applied a palette of simple and natural materials.
      “Our challenge was to design an interior that reflects the integrity of the built fabric and possesses a high level of humility,” said Henry.
      “All materials and building techniques were selected for their honesty, as well as their ability to patina over time, as it is important a house gets more beautiful as it ages.”

      A chunky grey-brick column loosely divides the living area – on one side lies a formal sitting room dressed with a woven rug and a couple of sloping wooden armchairs.
      On the other side is a cosier snug that has a plump navy sofa and a coffee table carved from a solid block of Oregon wood.

      The warmth and tactility of this table encouraged the studio to introduce a wooden dining set in the kitchen – the chairs are by Danish designer Hans J Wegner. Surrounding walls are clad in concrete-bricks, while the cabinetry is pale grey.

      All-white house by Studio Four blends indoor and outdoor spaces

      This austere palette continues through into the sleeping quarters, which are also painted grey. The same concrete bricks have also been used to form the headboard in the master bedroom.

      In the bathrooms, surfaces have been covered with tadelakt – a type of lime-based waterproof plaster often used in Moroccan architecture to make sinks and baths.
      Even the facade of the home, which is slightly set back from the street, has been washed with grey plaster.

      Ruxton Rise Residence is one of several homes that Studio Four has completed in Melbourne.
      Others include Central Park Road Residence, which has cosy interiors inspired by the Danish concept of hygge, and Bourne Road Residence, which has a stark all-white facade.
      Photography is by Shannon Mcgrath.

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      “The desire for escapism is at an all-time high” say visualisers creating fantasy renderings

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      With coronavirus confining people to their homes and rising fears over environmental destruction, a new breed of visual artists is creating utopian landscapes, buildings and interiors for armchair escapists. Here are nine of the best practitioners. Renderings depicting ethereal seaside homes to surreal, pastel-hued dreamscapes have become popular in recent months as people in lockdown
      The post “The desire for escapism is at an all-time high” say visualisers creating fantasy renderings appeared first on Dezeen. More