Daylesford Longhouse Residence & Working Farm by Partners Hill.

Photo by Rory Gardiner.

Winner of Australian House of the Year at the 2019 Houses Awards, it’s no surprise that Daylesford Longhouse is something special to behold. Architects Partners Hill collaborated with owners Trace Streeter and Studio Ongarato co-founder Ronnen Goren on the property, which encompasses a boutique farm, garden kitchen, cooking school, reception venue and a home. A study in inclusion, these elements are consolidated within a single 110-metre linear shed. Internalising all agricultural and hospitality activities under one expansive roof provides a purpose-aligned container for living, learning and entertaining as well as nurturing animals and fresh produce.

“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,” says architect 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”.

Set minutes from the idyllic town of Daylesford in central Victoria, the elevated property looks out over vast plains and bushland across Daylesford, Hepburn Springs and Mt Franklin. Set across 20-acres, Streeter and Goren were enchanted by visions of a new rural life where their interests in food, family, design and ideas would converge. Despite this, the couple quickly discovered the challenges of extreme temperature variations, strong winds from all directions, lack of water and ravenous local wildlife.

Hill refers to the environment as beautiful but hostile. In response, he proposed a giant greenhouse whose form would be “big enough and protected enough for the landscape to flourish, inside”.

The resulting property derives from highly rational and deductive decision making, with economy and sustainability underpinning the project. Revitalising the pastoral shed vernacular, the industrial structure sits on minimal footings with a gravel floor. The Longhouse is built to passive house standards with very few heating and cooling inputs and provision for solar panelling and battery storage. The 1050 sqm roof harvests every drop of rainwater, which is collected in 340,000 litre tanks for both on-demand use and bush firefighting. Hill used complex algorithms to calculate the optimal roof area to capture the amount of water required to grow the garden and be ample for everyday use and the cooking school.

An indoor garden oasis flourishes within the shed’s translucent glass-reinforced polyester skin. Gel-coated cladding provides different levels of UV and infrared resistance, while panels with various finishes optimise solar penetration and shading depending on the orientation of each façade and roof plane. Large openings and high fenestration frame views of the surroundings and skies, as well as control ventilation.

An open portal from one side of the house to the other means that on approach, visitors can see right through to the countryside beyond. Gentle landscaping of mounds and miniature hills softens the rectilinear form. Once inside, generous verdant reception areas bookend the central kitchen and cooking school, providing a nuanced setting for casual dining and more formal ceremonies. The immense internal volume is modulated by timber and brick insertions laced with foliage. Planting beds, large trees, ‘The Lodge’ owner’s residence and ‘The Stableman’s Quarters’ guest houses are all contained within this protective sanctuary.

Photo by Rory Gardiner.

The owners’ shared interest in 19th and 20th century villas inspired the interiors of The Lodge and Stableman’s Quarters. A contrast to the prosaic country cottages prevalent in the district, they feature ceiling roses, claw foot baths and ornate skirtings, flourishes that recall the manors of a bygone era. Paint selections ensure there is an uplifting sense of blue skies and long sunsets every day, even in the depths of winter, with pale blue for The Lodge and blush tones for The Stableman’s Quarters.

Hill uses radical contrasts to demarcate internal spaces, such as giant vs. petite, agricultural vs. refined, hard with romantic and tactile. Materials are largely pragmatic and robust, with Australian Cypress Pine used for barn doors, walls, surfaces, planters, seating and decking due to its resilience to rot. Both raw clay bricks and glazed bricks laid with contrasting mortar define the bathing pavilion, lookout area and kitchen enclosure. Daylesford Longhouse encompasses its own internal ecosystem and habitat, which perfectly sustains living in – and of – the landscape.