St Andrews Bach

Category Residential Year 2020 State Victoria Photographer Dianna Snape Builder Everclear Our Clients approached our studio expressing a love for the ‘Bach’ (pronounced ‘batch’), a super-small footprint holiday home type, common in New Zealand. At a tiny 105 square meters of internal area, this project was in essence an exercise of restraint. Paring back a tree retreat down to the minimum requirements, building less and therefore enjoying more of the existing dense vegetation of the 5000sqm site. While much of the siting was somewhat pre-determined by bushfire constraints, orientation was much more flexible. The main built form was positioned for optimal solar gains and maximum privacy from a driveway that is shared with neighbours. With no air conditioning, all areas were designed to incorporate at least two opposing windows, tuned for cross ventilation. With the exception of a low slot window for a seated view out to the tree canopy, openings to the western façade were avoided, excluding the hot afternoon sun.