LONG PAVILION
Grand Designs Australia Magazine House of the Year shortlisted finalist - October 2025
Project Overview
Long Pavilion is a naturally sustainable rural residence designed to foster connection — to landscape, climate and community. The brief called for a home that would embrace its setting while supporting social engagement and flexible living. The response is a north-oriented pavilion composed of open-plan spaces that dissolve the boundary between indoors and out, forming a strong dialogue with the surrounding countryside and mature eucalypts.
Design Response
Sensitive siting preserves existing trees and positions the home to maximise passive thermal performance. A meandering entry sequence enhances the arrival experience, gradually revealing the pavilion form. The architectural language draws on a contemporary shed vernacular, addressing fire regulations and budget constraints while maintaining a refined, cohesive identity.
A clear, legible spine organises movement through the home, encouraging exploration and connection between spaces. Internal volumes adapt to the natural contours of the site, creating varied spatial experiences and comfortable, climate-responsive interiors.
Spatial Planning & Living
A series of modern open-plan living zones cascade toward the oval and grandstand edge, forming a dynamic linking element between architecture and landscape. Large, flexible openings provide seamless transitions to the outdoors, inviting expansive views into every public space.
Polycarbonate screen panels introduce privacy while bringing reflectivity, filtered light, colour and texture into adjacent rooms. Skylights and battened screens softly delineate the bedroom wings, allowing light to demarcate private from communal zones without compromising openness.
Materiality & Atmosphere
The Long Pavilion forms the heart of the home — an expansive framework of timber and polished concrete that allows cool breezes to flow freely. The material palette is robust yet warm, reinforcing the balance between shelter and openness.
Eyes are drawn along the length of the pavilion to the surrounding forest and oval, creating a constant visual connection to nature. The result is a home that is both refuge and celebration — a considered integration of architecture, landscape and lived experience.
Photo Credit: Cam Murchison Photography
October 2025
We are thrilled to share that Long Pavilion has successfully qualified for the Grand Designs Australia Magazine House of the Year shortlist.
After receiving a record-breaking number of entries this year, judges have narrowed down a curated shortlist of projects deemed Australia’s most innovative, unique and responsive to client brief and needs.
You can view the entire shortlist here
May 2025
We’re thrilled to share that Long Pavilion has taken out Regional Project of the Year at the 2025 Darling Downs and West Moreton Regional Architecture Awards, hosted by the Australian Institute of Architects.
Inspired by the rural Australian shed and the classic sports pavilion, Long Pavilion reimagines these iconic forms into a stunning modern family home. It also received a Commendation in the Residential Architecture – Houses (New) category.
“The client’s love of sport and entertaining is prioritised through views to the oval from the home’s public spaces,” noted the jury. They praised the project’s “climate-responsive design” and use of materials to adapt to Toowoomba’s temperate weather conditions.”
