Ducat Contemporary Farmstead

Located in Cudgen on the beautiful Gold Coast, this renovated farmhouse, set on 30 hectares of land, took out the top honours at this year’s BDAQ Awards for a major renovation. And it’s not hard to see why!

The client wanted to make the most of natural airflow, remain comfortable in summer and winter, and do away with the need for costly air-conditioning bills. Taking in the amazing 360-degree ocean, bush and river views was also central to the project’s success.

Capturing the views called for substantial amounts of glass. On the other hand, all that glass posed challenges with regard to regulating temperature and airflow. It was clear that expert advice about the best windows, frames and glazing was required to achieve the right balance of ventilation, insulation and control.

“I’d talked to a couple of other glaziers,” says the client, Grant Ducat, “and Heather [from Central Glass & Aluminium] provided the most comprehensive guidance regarding how to achieve what we wanted to achieve for the windows and glass…Heather was succinct and quick. And better than anyone else I dealt with, she knew her stuff and was able to give us what we wanted.”

Central Glass & Aluminium placed multiple double-hung window panels on the same horizontal line, each individually controllable for airflow and seamlessly blended with the panels above and below. 

The building’s design combines industrial accents like square-profile, anodised aluminium-framed windows with natural materials like hardwood timber, limestone slab tiles and walls rendered in clay and limestone. The clever framing also meant that sashless windows could be easily installed.

In addition to the stunning architectural design, the interior designer, Emma Ducat, Grant’s daughter, incorporated steel feature pieces, like a stunning steel staircase railing and an intentionally exposed steel beam which runs from the centre of the sunroom through to the BBQ area.