Overlooking Werri Beach in New South Wales, Australia is Dovecote, a modern haven that’s as deeply rooted in luxurious design as it is in nature. A peaceful country scene of sprawling, idyllic pastures and paddocks awaits, while ocean waves crash upon a craggy shoreline below. “The main thing we keep hearing is that people are floored once they get inside,” says Andy Carson, founder and principal of Sydney-based design firm Atelier Andy Carson. “Their emotions are reset, and there is no reason to leave the wonderful sanctuary of the headland.”
Nestled along 150 oceanfront acres with 270-degree views of the beach, lagoon, and working farm, the landscape serves as a limitless source of inspiration for the design scheme, says Carson. Drawing from the steel-corrugated framing of the land’s dairy farm sheds, he predominately used black aluminum for the striking contemporary façades of both the Headland and the Range, the two buildings that make up the swanky accommodations. Materials like Tallowood timber, stone, copper, and brass were chosen because they will patina with time and transform into colors “that already exist on the property in some form,” he says, adding that “detailing is painstakingly minimal to give precedence to the land around them.”
Appearing to float at the top of the cliff, the four-bedroom Headland building functions as the main house, comprising three pavilions that create a U-shape around a serene stone- and wood-lined courtyard with an outdoor firepit and heated swimming pool. “It is set up so you can move around the space and always find a sheltered spot no matter what the season or conditions,” Carson says about merging the interiors and outdoors seamlessly in an open layout. The living room area, outfitted with Scandinavian-inspired furnishings and gray accents, complete the house.
The Range, meanwhile, offers a completely different experience with a darker palette and a simple, pitched roof that mirrors the dairy sheds. “It doesn’t hide its steel framework, whereas Headland is very clean and minimal [and has] nothing to detract from the outstanding views,” Carson says. Instead, the two-room residence provides “a more contained, grounded connection to the farm,” he adds. Take the operable façade that opens up to the farmland, or the large architectural copper shutters that can be adjusted to control the sunlight that pours in from the oversized window in the living room.
The property, Carson points out, reveals constant surprises—from the 100 dairy cows grazing nearby to the glimpses of whales and the passing of ships on the water beyond. “I hope people experience the rhythm of the land and nature,” he says, noting that the basic anatomy of the grounds is the driving force behind the experience. “It is something often missing from our everyday lives.”
