The Hardie™ Village: A closer look at the inspiring facades on the Block 2024

The Block 2024 very quickly earned a moniker that reflected its stunning bespoke facades and range of cladding textures – The Hardie™ Village!

Why? Because each home is fully kitted out in its own unique combination of exterior cladding from the Hardie™ Architectural Collection.

Architect from The Block 2024, Julian Brenchley, reveals, “There are so many options with the Hardie™ Architectural Collection, and they lend themselves so well to Mid-Century Modern, Modern Coastal and other stylistic approaches that I had a field day.”

The Block houses, despite having a similar architectural design, each look very different. “Contestants create homes to sell. It really was intrinsically important to make sure that each one of those houses had an individual look and feel,” says Julian.

Drawing from the Hardie™ Architectural Collection simplified the process and made it clear how different products and textures could mix and match, working together to create unique bespoke facades. “We had a great time working with James Hardie to come up with some options for the facades,” he adds.

Let’s explore each of those facades in The Hardie™ Village and explain how to bring it to life!

The Block House 1: Board and Batten

About this style: An established trend getting a new lease on life, board and batten facades are a favourite of architect, Julian Brenchley, and features on Jesse and Paige’s The Block house. The latest board and batten trend is to adopt a mixture of texture and profiles for beautiful bespoke facades. “It can lend itself to rural, coastal or urban, depending on how you do it; it's a fantastic style and is really versatile,” says architect Julian Brenchley.

Get the look: The board and batten style was created using a mix of cladding textures. The embedded sand-like texture of Hardie™ Fine Texture Cladding against the smooth Hardie™ Axent™ Trim battens, with close batten spacing creating a highly detailed aesthetic.

The Block House 2: Mid-Century Modern Coastal

About this style: As seen on The Block 2024, the Mid-Century Modern Coastal look is a contemporary take on traditional coastal meets Mid-Century design.

The engaging facade of this home references a classic Mid-Century style: it’s a Palm Springs-inspired coastal home with a butterfly roof, large windows with shrouds, coastal landscaping and smooth cladding textures that deliver a relaxed look with luxe resort touches.

Get the look: The Block House 2 features crisp, white Linea™ Weatherboard that marry minimalist design and coastal charm, with deep shadow lines and clean horizontal lines. It’s a pre-primed, 16mm thick weatherboard available in 150mm and 180mm widths. It’s paired with Hardie™ Axent™ Trim, used as vertical battening to draw the eye upwards. The battens were aligned with the windows and weatherboard edges, breaking up the strong horizontal weatherboards and creating a sense of height.

The Block House 3: Mid-Century Modern

About this style: The Mid-Century Modern style is lightweight with low-lying designs that embrace colour and nature, along with bespoke facades that push against ornate traditions and aesthetics. House 3 on The Block 2024 follows the brief: sleek with a low profile in the landscape, with floor to ceiling windows that fill rooms with light and connect indoors with outdoors.

Get the look: Singing from the Mid-Century song sheet, the home is creatively clad in Hardie™ Oblique™ Cladding in alternating 200mm and 300mm board widths that evoke the feel of wood panelling, and were used both internally and externally in this home. “To bring it inside is a fun way to emphasise the outside,” adds The Block architect Julian Brenchley.

The Block House 4: Mid Century Modern Coastal

About this style: Mid-Century Modern Coastal style combines clean lines, organic shapes, and minimalistic design with a relaxed, beach-inspired aesthetic. On The Block House 4, a butterfly roof defines the shape of structure, along with a decidedly coastal palette and tropical-inspired greenery. The distinctive window hoods sit flush with the cladding, providing shade without the need for eaves.

Get the look: This home is a showcase for mixed cladding textures, with four types of exterior cladding defining its interesting, layered exterior. The wide and deep square-shaped grooved lines of Stria™ Cladding are laid horizontally for an eye-catching effect to complement the Mid-Century Modern shapes. It’s paired with vertically grooved Axon™ Cladding in a dark colour, which adds contrast, drama and detail. You’ll also find Hardie™ Fine Texture Cladding, with its embedded, sand-like texture, and smooth Hardie™ Axent™ Trim in key areas.

The Block House 5: Mid-Century Modern

About this style: The twist on this execution of Mid-Century Modern is its scale. Featuring a typical asymmetrical butterfly roof, large windows and indoor-outdoor connection, it pushes it skyward with a second storey. Each is defined with different cladding textures.

Get the look: This double-storey Mid-Century style home features a curated combination of Hardie™ Brushed Concrete Cladding on the bottom level, creating a solid foundation, teamed with Hardie™ Oblique™ Cladding on the upper level. With an embedded swept texture reminiscent of softly brushed concrete, Hardie™ Brushed Concrete Cladding gives the home a finish that’s visually sophisticated, and dynamic to the touch. It is offset by the rhythm and depth of Hardie™ Oblique™ Cladding, where smooth vertical grooves evoke the look of standing seam cladding.

Ready to plan your own facade? Here’s what to consider

The facade of a home is the most important element for creating instant street appeal. Visualising and creating a design for your facade is the key to a well-designed home. Luckily, the Hardie™ Architectural Collection takes the stress out of material selection, by offering a curated combination of finishes.