French Island Ecoliv Buildings

Architect designed by Lai Chong Brown, the brief of this project was to build a new farmhouse on rugged French Island in the middle of Victoria’s Westernport Bay. The project is confronted with a range of challenges with no power, water or other services to the site, no sealed roads on the island and access only by passenger ferry or charter barge service. The site is also particularly windswept and faces out to Bass Strait across Phillip Island. The project was delivered in two stages with the first, to install waste treatment, water collection and a photo-voltaic power supply, along with a substantial services structure. The second stage was prefabrication and installation of 5 modules, transported via barge across Westernport bay. The new farmhouse is unusual in its form adopting a courtyard model rather than the more traditional verandah surrounding a central block. This provides a protected outdoor space away from the winds sweeping in from the seaward side. The new steel and Australian Hardwood clad dwelling sits above the ground to make the most of the 270 degrees of views that look out to sea, along the bay and across the rolling pastures of French Island.