A Simple Offering – The Modern Farmhouse by Phoebe Nicol Interior Architecture and Michael Robilliard and Associates

Sitting simply in the landscape, The Modern Farmhouse engages with its surrounds as an offering of balanced and neutral insertions, respectfully aligning with the natural. Phoebe Nicol Interior Architecture and Michael Robilliard and Associates carefully navigate the calm and serene setting with restraint and a considered contemporary approach.

Sitting amongst the surrounding farming landscape, The Modern Farmhouse draws on the known rural vernacular and sees the proposal of a home of respectful resonance. Through formally responding to the existing context and conditions, the home is a welcomed addition and sits unobtrusively in place, while its heightened detailing and curated interior experience offer an elevated co-existence. While not directly connected to the motions of traditional farming practices, the stripping of the ornate and decorative ensures a collective methodology and that a similar approach to engaging with the land remains key. With architecture by Michael Robilliard and Associates, Phoebe Nicol Interior Architecture melds the internal elements to reflect an appreciation of the home’s enviable setting.

Through formally responding to the existing context and conditions, the home is a welcomed addition and sits unobtrusively in place, while its heightened detailing and curated interior experience offer an elevated co-existence.

Built by MGS Building Services, The Modern Farmhouse shares the site with an original log cabin built many years ago and sits as its comforting contemporary. In its simplified approach, the focus remains on the surrounds and ensuring connections outward are maintained and emphasised as one moves through the home. Framed views and vistas become living artworks from within, watching the seasonal and climatic changes alter the surrounds over time while offering a sense of protection and enclosure from within. An element of non-permanence ensures the zones can be altered as needed, depending on the visitors or guests at any one time.

Drawing on the natural and enviable surrounds, a rich and layered palette of materials adds depth to the home. Combining dark iron sheeting with soft and textural linens, natural elements such as stone and timber then further add a tactility and a reminder of place. Consistent polished concrete underfoot allows for a resilience and for the ease of movement between inside and out, despite the conditions. Through an emphasis on honest and raw elements, the home becomes anchored to its site and to the surrounding structures, while also allowing an expression of time and patina as each element is interacted with over time. With the approach holistically was driven by economic efficiency, in the home’s stripping of the superfluous, the essentials remain.

While not directly connected to the motions of traditional farming practices, the stripping of the ornate and decorative ensures a collective methodology and that a similar approach to engaging with the land remains key.

The Modern Farmhouse defies a preciousness reserved for many residential setting. Instead, Phoebe Nicol Interior Architecture focuses on the purely necessary and emphasises texture and an appreciation of the natural.