A Predominantly Underground Modern Day Melbourne Farmhouse

‘The Boulevard’ is considered one of Melbourne’s most spectacular new builds.

Designed by Archier, the home balances nature and structure for a younger household who engaged the architects to design their model of a ‘modern-day farmhouse.’

Respecting the sloping web site and its surrounding atmosphere, together with Yarra Flats Park situated immediately reverse, was paramount to the undertaking’s success.

‘The purchasers wished the design to take advantage of the sloping web site, connecting the home to the panorama and surrounding views, whereas sustaining privateness from neighbours,’ says Chris Haddad, director of Archier.

‘A key aspect of the transient was their want to foster engagement with the outside, encapsulated of their assertion, “We wish the home to push the kids and folks into the atmosphere.”

Archier’s tenet was to maximise the purchasers’ relationship with nature by embedding the home into the prevailing hillside. The influence conceals a lot of the construction, and extends the Yarra Flats’ atmosphere onto the location itself, whereas creating streetscape views to the parkland from the road above.

‘The idea was closely influenced by the steep topography, which we embraced as a possibility to design a predominantly underground residence,’ says Chris.

A roof backyard, created in collaboration with Ben Scott Backyard Design, additional enhances the purchasers’ connection to nature by integrating native vegetation and providing a visible hyperlink to the atmosphere.

Low upkeep vegetation together with lemon-scented gums, silver banksia, smokebush, saltbush, native bush mint, native violet, and feather reed grass help biodiversity and minimise backyard maintenance.

Archier labored intently with Ben Scott Backyard Design all through the undertaking to make sure all exterior areas would move effortlessly — each visually and virtually — from the inside. The barbecue is strategically linked to the kitchen and essential eating house; the garden and pool lengthen from the kids’s bedrooms on the house’s decrease ground; and the roof backyard with an outside tub is linked to the principle bed room to type a non-public retreat for the dad and mom.

The gabled roof of this essential bed room wing aligns with the consumer’s imaginative and prescient for a modern-day farmhouse.

‘The slate tiles, compliant with a neighborhood covenant requiring “tile or slate” roofs, add a timeless and sturdy end that harmonises with neighbouring homes,’ says Chris. ‘Tough-sawn timber cladding offers texture, and its black stain enhances longevity and climate resilience.’

The rest and bulk of the home is concrete, chosen for its structural robustness, thermal effectivity, muted pure tone, and talent to help the partially underground construction and in depth roof gardens.

In distinction, using timber and cork within the inside materials palette, developed in session with Sarah Trotter, brings heat and luxury into the house.

‘The partitions are completed with a extremely textured earthen render, including a tactile high quality, whereas travertine stone within the sunken lounge retains heat from the hydronic ground heating,’ says Chris.

What might seem as a strictly ‘architectural’ house is softened by the in depth greenery all through that shrouds the home, and the combination of playful components comparable to concrete ledges and huge operable home windows that encourage interplay from youngsters.

Most spectacular is how the finished home presents itself to the road above.

‘Not like the prevailing development of dominant buildings whose bulk obstructs pedestrians’ connection to the Yarra Flats parklands under, this residence breaks the norm by burying a lot of its mass into the hillside,’ explains Chris.

Paired with its in depth inexperienced roofs and native planting, the house nearly disappears into the panorama, changing into subservient to its pure environment.

‘Typically, the perfect a part of a undertaking is what you possibly can’t see — and on this case, it’s the house’s means to prioritise the panorama over itself,’ says Chris.

‘This delicate steadiness between structure and nature is what we’re most happy with.’