The two elongated wings that make up this extension to an Australian farmhouse are set into the side of a hill, linked by a stairwell that offer views straight through its middle .
Melbourne-based Honeyman + Smith Architects designed the addition to increase the dimension of a residence on a doing work farm in the Harkaway district, south-east of the city.
The sloping web site prompted the team to create long, reduced structures that hug the hillside and enhance the building’s connection with the landscape.
“The two new kinds are proportionally thin and extended, encouraging interaction with surrounding paddocks, allowing for regions of the creating to be isolated dependent on season and use – significantly like the locations of the working farm this developing occupies,” said the architects.
In contrast to the a lot more traditional proportions and hipped roof of the existing property, the new additions follow the contours of the slope and characteristic reduced, flatter roof lines.
Windows are strategically positioned to allow views via some sections of the building, whilst other spaces are planned to provide vistas out across the surrounding fields and trees.
A hefty concrete wall facing the hillside marks the uppermost edge of the extension and helps to root the structure to its sloping website.
“The romantic ideals of the scheme are primarily based on the reduced-lying connection to the ground and hefty back wall,” explained the architects.
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A row of modest windows perforates the sound surface, supplying daylight and ventilation to the kitchen, utility space and bedroom on this level.
The dense concrete elevation anchors a steel structure that extends out and down the slope, incorporating big glazed openings to lighten its bodily presence.
A sheltered pathway on 1 side of the existing property continues along the rear facade to meet a new entrance among the outdated and new buildings. The proportions of windows and option of supplies at this degree generate visual consistency among the residence and extension.
A circulation space connecting the extension’s two volumes is lined on both side by windows that let views straight by way of the centre of the creating.
This room is made up of a staircase with open treads and also provides accessibility to a extended linear ramp that runs along 1 side of the upper wing, which is flanked by a row of timber-framed windows.
Courtyards formed by the gaps between the two structures offer sheltered outdoor spaces that aid the home’s organic cooling and shading, and let the paddock to reach into the heart of the developing.
The reduce volume is partially embedded in the hillside at the finish closest to the current house, so views across its roof from the upper storey are retained.
A pair of open lounge regions are accommodated in this lower storey on both side of a bathroom and storage unit. Sliding glass doors at the opposite end from the major house open onto a big covered terrace.
Red brick cladding and tiles employed for the paths and terraces evoke the colours found in the surrounding landscape, while other locally sourced supplies had been picked to increase the building’s rural aesthetic.
“Resources have been locally sourced in order to compliment the warm rural glow of the paddocks, red clay soil and cattle of the abutting landscape,” additional the designers.
Photography is by Hilary Walker and David Sandison.
Site plan 
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