Celebrating the beauty of the natural landscape with soft, neutral materials in Barwon Heads

It’s an architect’s ultimate dream: delivering an outcome so spectacular, far exceeding your clients’ expectations, that you end up great friends, spending time as a guest in the very home that you thoughtfully designed. This was the scenario architect David Neil and the team at Neil Architecture were fortunate to experience at Barwon Heads House, where they designed a second home for a semi-retired couple to spend time enjoying the garden and having family to stay.

Set in a beautiful location – on a corner block, hugging the golf course and surrounded by many beautiful existing, well-established trees – and built on the same compact footprint as the original home, the new house was designed so the owners can sit on their deck and simply enjoy the garden.

“When you drive past, it looks like the garden's been there forever because we managed to keep so many of the beautiful trees. And it’s this gorgeous Kate Seddon garden, which looks stunning… all the neighbours and other people walk by, look in and just admire the beauty of the garden,” says David.

What sets this home apart isn’t just its location, it’s the thoughtful details, the seamless collaboration between everyone involved, and particularly the way the home integrates so fully and beautifully into the landscape.

The home has a fairly standard layout, containing four-bedrooms (two downstairs, and two upstairs for grandchildren) designed to maximise space and northern light, complete with an indoor and outdoor fireplace. What makes it special is the way the spaces are designed with the garden as the focal point, integrating the home within the garden at every opportunity. The elevated pool is a great example of this, sitting seemingly in the middle of the garden, with no real sense of a fence containing it, integrating it fully into the landscape.

“The idea is that you just get lovely views out of the sitting room across the beautiful water to the garden, which is really lovely … and also the way you feel, when you’re in the garden, the way it sits, it’s just beautiful” adds David.

The combination of materials and where they’ve been used also makes this design so special.

Beige, neutral tones dominate, both inside and out, a fitting choice for the natural setting, including Krause brickwork, Silvertop Ash, neutral renders, naturing stone paving in the garden and Board Form Concrete Veneer on the pool surrounds. It’s a beautiful, soft and tactile combination that works in harmony:

“The house just has such a lovely feel, and sits so nicely in the area, it’s so soft and beautiful and doesn’t make too much of a statement, but has lovely detail about it,” explains David.

Krause Emperor bricks are used extensively across the external façade, including beautiful brick detailing on hit and miss walls and the outdoor fireplace, continuing inside on the entrance walls, and living room fireplace surround. They’re a wonderfully calm, tactile and neutral presence, with a special sponge wash delivering a more muted tone.

Board Form Concrete Veneer is a perfect complement to, and contrast with the Krause bricks, and is a beautifully aesthetic, durable and practical solution for a pool surround. It’s the second time David has used this product on a pool and won’t be the last:

“We wanted something to clad the outside of the concrete on the pool surround that was nicely textured but wasn't brick. We wanted it to look like a concrete pool coming out of the ground. Doing a Board Form pool is not easy with all the waterproofing issues, so we just decided to clad it instead, and it’s great, we would definitely do it again.”

Barwon Heads House is a beautiful home designed and delivered by a dream team. As David said, this job is all about relationships, and this project was, “a really good mix of people collaborating,” where every detail was well considered and exceptionally well executed. More so, the success of this project is reflected in the relationship the whole team has built with the clients, who have now become friends. 

“This aspect of an architect’s job makes designing beautiful homes and spaces for people even more rewarding and enjoyable,” says David. Not only getting to know clients so well but also knowing that what the team has delivered has exceeded their expectations: “It's life changing for a client when they get something they've never envisaged, but they put their trust in the architect and the outcome is something that they never thought they’d have … it brings them a lot of joy. So, when you do that, it makes your job great.”

Architect and interiors:      Neil Architecture

Products:                          Board Form Concrete Veneer and Krause Emperor bricks (finished with a sponge wash)

Builder:                             Morgan Home Builders

Bricklayer:       Tyler Armstrong Bricklaying                   

Landscape Design:             Kate Seddon Landscape Design

Landscape Construction:   Lovely by Nature

Furniture and Styling:    Carol Whiting, Studio Whiting

Photography:                    Tom Blachford