59 DOVECOTE, GERRINGONG, NSW
WHILE THE DARK GOOD LOOKS of Dovecote (dovecote.com.au) have made it a favourite with design enthusiasts, its practical appeals tick the box with doting parents (who are also design enthusiasts), extended families, and the family you choose too. The contemporary farmhouse, perched on 60 hectares of oceanfront farmland in the Kiama area of the NSW South Coast, caters to all comers – and it does it in serious style.
The metal spine of the four-bedroom, four-bathroom main house rises up and reaches out over the land with extruded fingers clad in standing seam black aluminium cladding that principal architect Andy Carson, of Atelier Andy Carson, found “so remarkable we imported it from Germany”.
Andy says Dovecote is highly attuned to the user experience and framing very specific views. “One of the principles we employed was that the form should react to and respond directly to its surrounds and every inch of the design is in response to the immediate and greater landscape. The building twists and morphs toward specific views, forging a greater connection with the landscape, which is in constant change with waves, tides, whales, dolphins and passing ships all asserting themselves,” he says.
“The owners had a very clear vision of what they wanted Dovecote to be and then let me respond to it in terms of how to react to the site, the need for wind protection and balancing privacy while capitalising on those
