A Country Home Characterised by Simplicity, Restraint and Connection to Place
Ochre House by MyMyMy pushes the Australian vernacular forward, creating a robust yet refined space that feels perfectly at home in the landscape
Driving through the countryside of eastern Australia, a mix of sheds and Victorian cottages dot the landscape. And on first encountering Ochre House, one would be forgiven for thinking it’s a fusion of the two. But the simplicity and unassuming nature unfold to reveal a home thoughtfully connected to the landscape through its orientation, structure and materials.
Ochre House is in the small town of Sutton, a short drive from Canberra. And for designer Mark Brook, principal architect and director at architecture firm MyMyMy, the eight-hectare block was the starting point. ‘It has a gentle east to west slope and is covered in eucalypts,’ he says. ‘It’s home to native plants and animals, and is part of a concerted effort to reclaim some of this area from pasture lands back to woodland forest.’
Lifestyle and sustainability were key elements in the brief from the clients, a young professional couple. ‘The brief was to design a three-bedroom home that was both a house and workplace,’ says Brook. ‘They wanted a sustainable home that sat well in the landscape, allowing them to connect to the bush and life around them. Our goal was to create something grounded and honest, a form vernacular to the Australian landscape.’
The architects landed on a reinterpretation of the region’s shearing sheds, ‘with a singular external material expression to assist with the reading of the form,’ Brook explains. ‘We wanted the house to hover above the contours, avoiding terraces and allowing the landscape to flow up to, under and around it.’
The primary material choice was Colorbond steel, chosen for its practicality in a bushfire-prone region, durability and low maintenance, and recyclability. ‘We chose this simple material over more expensive alternatives to show how detailing could elevate it beyond the ordinary into something more architectural’ Brook says. ‘The detailing of all the steel flashings, corners and junctions are custom, as well as the aluminium gutters, mesh shade screens and the glass roofs for the shower.’ This attention to detail without much decoration reinforces the refined simplicity. And while the colour may also seem an unusual choice, Brook points out, it resonates with the hues of native flora and the ochres of Indigenous pigments.
Interiors continue the focus on enduring materials and custom detailing. ‘Untreated grey ironbark timber inside recalls the robust materiality of rural shearing sheds, while the colour palette reflects the external colours,’ says Brook. ‘We designed custom furniture and lighting, such as the smoky mirrored sconces with stone backing and the curved timber and steel table, which picks up the curve of the Colorbond cladding. The stained-glass windows are also custom.’
Elsewhere, even the bolder choices feel harmonious, like the red and green bathrooms that draw their tones from the landscape. And an artwork by Leon Russell Black is a fine complement. ‘Leon’s paintings speak about the Tiwi people of Pirlangimpi, of fishing, hunting and gathering. We felt the contemporary yet classic technique and the natural pigmentation Leon uses sat well in the house, and spoke about the connection to nature and place.’
Text by Philip Annetta
Images by Anne Stroud
Styling by Tilly Roberts
