Daylesford's Longhouse wins Robin Boyd Award

The Longhouse in Daylesford, north of Melbourne, has taken out the Robin Boyd Award for Residential Architecture at the National Architecture Awards.

The 110 metre long functional farm and residence in country Victoria was honoured at the gala ceremony in Brisbane earlier in the week.

Timothy Hill was the design architect, who worked in collaboration with Jonathan Chamberlain, a Graduate of Architecture, Domenic Mesiti, Michael Hogg and Andrew D'Occhio.

"Daylesford Longhouse is utterly extraordinary, challenging in its questioning, enchanted in its outcome," the panel noted.

One of the Longhouse's most striking features is its roof, around 12 metres by 130 metres, that marks out a linear territory that, combined with walls of sheet metal, translucent polycarbonate and agricultural mesh, preserve the interior.

Inside is a verdant garden with a climatic zone.

The translucent skin, punctuated only by carefully curated picture windows, protects the garden from predators and exposure.

Akin to a long shed or conservatory, the structure includes an operational barn at one end and an intimate residence at the other.

Internally, aedicules, arbours and eyries accommodate the domestic functions of kitchen, dining, sleeping and bathing.

"The sense of living within the garden is profoundly delivered," the panel said.

"These spatial “follies” reference other times and places, and form the settings for continuously unfolding theatre."

"Partners Hill has scaled up this design to the rural landscape to avoid being diminished by it.

"The site is a microcosm of the broader setting; “wild” grass mounds that reflect the mounded landforms in the distance are used to signify the building entry and the cultivated production garden extends into the house."