Functional Farmhouses; 8 Design Tips

The difference between rural and urban life in Australia is a cultural chasm that we love to hate. Never was this clearer to me than when I packed up after a fifteen-year stint of study and work in Canberra and returned to my roots at the foothills of the Snowy Mountains, to start a practice specialising in low-carbon regional housing.

A colleague in the city warned me that “rural people aren’t really interested in sustainability and high-quality homes”. Rubbish, I thought. Four hours down the road, one local client said “we’re practical people who know how to get things done – not like those shiny bums from Canberra.” Right-o, I thought, rolling my eyes.

While my experience working closely with individuals and families in both city and country has demonstrated that we’re not as different as we sometimes like to think, there are some very clear differences when it comes to designing great suburban and rural homes. Here are just a few things to consider.

Published in Issue 69 of Sanctuary Magazine

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