Cart 
Main Ridge House by Porebski Architects is a testament to simplicity done right.
Having previously worked with the client, the architects were again approached when the owners acquired a vineyard in Main Ridge, on the Mornington Peninsula.
‘We had done several timber structures over at their other property at Portsea — a studio with a garage and shed, a viewing platform and entertaining pergola. So timber was a must for them on this house,’ practice director Alex Porebski says.
For this project, they wanted something ‘authentic’. From the outside, it couldn’t look too ‘fussy’ or big.
This understated brief guided the architects to find inspiration in traditional farmhouse vernacular, creating a new residence placed in the same spot as the vineyard’s existing three-bedroom home — which had to be demolished due to asbestos.
What they came up with appears to be a relatively traditional 195-square-metre home with a gabled roof and a verandah at the front. Blackbutt timber is used in different ways both inside and out.
While concealed by the country-style facade and uniform shiplap timber cladding, the house is designed as two pavilions: one featuring the sleeping quarters, where tongue and groove floorboards meet timber-lined walls and plasterboard raked ceilings.
The other contains the living zones, including the seamless kitchen and dining areas overlooking the vineyard. Inside, the construction shifts slightly to reveal exposed columns, beams, and a voluminous roof lined in more blackbutt timber — creating a calming, cocoon-like feeling.
‘We chose this to allow the volume of the roof to be used and create surprising spaces in a simple way,’ Alex adds.
The soaring ceiling tapers off at the edge of the home to create a second verandah, connected to the outdoors by sliding glass doors and expansive windows.
One of the most unique aspects is that the new structures almost appears to float above the ground — elevated by an infilled base that accounts for the location’s bushfire regulations.
Alex says both he and the clients love how Main Ridge House now lightly sits amongst the natural landscape, offerings new interactions as you move through the floor plan.
Because despite its simplicity, its impeccable execution makes it so much more than the sum of its parts.
