A PLACE TO BREAK BREAD

A young family's home combines the rustic charm of a traditional barn with passive house design principles

- ALICE MOFFITT

For Matt and Casey Crossley, feeding people is more than just their profession — it’s their passion. So, when they began designing a brand-new home, they naturally gave considerable thought to time spent in the kitchen.

Matt's irregular working hours as a baker played apart in its design, with extra sound and light proofing in the master bedroom allowing him to sleep during the day after a 2 am start time. The couple, who live and work in Pambula, on Yuin Country on the New South Wales Sapphire Coast, are joint owners in the village’s popular artisan sourdough bakery, Wild Rye’s Baking Co.

In early 2017, after a search for a parcel of land, Matt and Casey bought a sloping, 1.6-ha block on the edge of town that backed onto a leafy bush reserve. They entrusted a local builder with their loose vision for their future home. ‘There was lots of back-and-forth with our builder - he also designed the house,’ Matt, explains.