21-05-2025
Barwon Heads: Award-winning circular home by Jackson Clements Burrows hits market
A half-joking request to include a planetarium inside a Barwon Heads family's home was the catalyst for an award-winning circular design where stargazing is celebrated.
Vendor John White was determined to think outside the square in replacing a tired 1950s beach house with one of the first luxury rebuilds in the coastal town.
When architects Jackson Clements Burrows came up with the concept of a circular second-storey tower clad in vertical timber battens, he was all in.
'We wanted to keep away from the boxy, square, 90-degree angles that you normally see in a lot of residential construction,' Mr White said.
'We wanted something that was more organic, more curved, more natural looking, and the circular motifs and angles throughout the house eventuated out of that process.
'My wife came up with putting a skylight in the living room upstairs so we could watch the stars, like a mini planetarium.'
The striking five-bedroom, three-bathroom residence, completed in 2009, wowed the judges at the 2010 Victorian architecture awards, winning the new house category.
More than 15 years on, with their three children now living out of home, the couple are selling the extraordinary 1454sq m property at 12-16 Henley St, Barwon Heads.
Bellarine Property listing agent Christian Bartley expects the listing, which includes a separately titled 484sq m vacant block, to fetch between $6.6m and $7.2m.
Featuring cedar cladding, floor-to-ceiling windows and polished concrete, the timeless house champions sustainability with a 7.5-star energy rating, cross-flow ventilation and greywater recycling.
It's set among established native gardens designed by local landscape architect Tim Nichols which incorporate a 16m saltwater swimming pool and outdoor fireplace.
Mr White said the garden was one of the only things the family had changed since moving in.
'Tim actually did our garden twice. He did it initially when we first built the house, the kids were quite young so we had a trampoline and a cubby house,' he said.
'Then as they got older … we changed the garden to a bit more lawn.'
Architect Jon Clements took inspiration from the original 1950s house on the site when it came to choosing playful colours for internal cabinetry.
He said zoned family living was at the heart of the design, in which the circular first floor serves as a private parents' retreat with a main bedroom, study and living room.
'The house was really designed to nestle into that remnant vegetation and be quite discreet instead of prominent,' Mr Clements said.
'And, of course, it was also designed at the time from an environmental perspective in terms of cross-low ventilation and orientation.'
As the winemaker behind Circulus Wines, it's perhaps no surprise that one of Mr White's favourite hangouts is the underground cellar.
He said the house still attracted rubbernecking, even all these years later.
'It was a very different house for that part of Barwon Heads at that particular time but I like to think that what we did has influenced a lot of other design projects around Barwon Heads and other coastal areas,' he said.
