Project: Shearers Quarters House
Architects: John Wardle Architects
Location: Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Area: 1,463 sq ft
Photographs by: Trevor Mein
Shearers Quarters House by John Wardle Architects
The Shearers Quarters House is located in Hobart on the Australian island of Tasmania. It was designed by John Wardle Architects on the site of an old shearing shed that was destroyed by fire.
As the name suggests, the residence’s purpose is to house shearers as well as family and friends on weekends. This is perhaps the most modern working sheep farmhouse that you’ll ever see.
This beguiling shearers quarters sits as a companion building to an existing historic cottage on a working sheep farm.
Located on the site of the old shearing shed that was destroyed by fire, the residence houses shearers, and family and friends on annual tree planting weekends and retreats.
The plan form transforms along its length to shift the profile of a slender skillion at the western end to a broad gable at the east. The geometry of this shift is carried through to the layout of internal walls, lining boards and window frames.
A singular palette of materials is used with corrugated galvanised iron to the exterior, and timber internally. Inside is a large open living/dining/kitchen area, bathroom and laundry, two bedrooms and a bunkroom.
The primary internal lining is Pinus Macrocarpa sourced from many different suppliers principally as individual trees from old rural windbreaks.
The bedrooms are lined in recycled apple box crates, sourced from the many old orchards of the Huon Valley where the timber remained stacked but unused since the late 1960s.
