Watson Architects - design sustain conserve

South-West Queensland

Following the aggregation of several rural properties, the client requested a new, central homestead to act as the focal point and heart of the new property.  The project is currently under construction.

The homestead was to provide a series of buildings and a sense of community for the property with the future possibility of becoming a social gathering place for the local district.  The homestead site comprises a series of ancillary buildings including an eight-person Jackaroo’s quarters, a meathouse, garage, recreation pavilion and provisions store; a tennis court, swimming pool, ‘village green’ and the manager’s homestead.

The site plan design (pdf file) evolved into a centralised open recreation area flanked by the manager’s homestead to the south and by a line of the ancillary buildings to the north.  Landscaped mounds and tree plantings were proposed to provide a sense of enclosure to the west and the east of the site.

The building designs were to be reminiscent in form to earlier low-set homestead properties with traditional roof forms and wide eaves; buildings with broad-brimmed hats to deal with the extreme conditions of south-western Queensland.  Although each of the buildings are different, they were designed with recurring details, colours and themes throughout to provide a unified family of buildings.  The timber framed buildings included basic building materials such as timber cladding, split-faced block, corrugated iron and locally sourced timber.

The manager’s homestead was designed as a series of smaller linked pavilions to provide the southern building edge to the homestead’s central recreation space.  It includes the manager’s family accommodation, a garage, store and laundry; main living room and kitchen; offices and schoolroom and a pavilion for guest accommodation.

Due to the scale of the project, construction is in stages with the ancillary buildings (comprising the Jackaroo’s quarters, meathouse and garage) the first to be completed.  The manager’s homestead is currently under construction.

Note:
This project was undertaken as project architect for Ivan McDonald Architects.