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From Daniel:
‘Mid-Century Modern
seamlessly blends modern
architectural elements with
functionality, prioritising both
aesthetics and practicality.’

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This handbook will guide you on Mid-
Century Modern design, kickstarting

your journey to creating a harmonious
home. MIRA Residential’s expertise
in this style, and in modular building
methods makes Daniel and Natalie the
ideal experts to explore this timeless
style. From the low-line roof to the
expansive windows, open plan living
floorplans and bespoke details, this
guide will help you create a warm and
inviting Mid-Century Modern home.

Daniel and Natalie from MIRA Residential
share their insights on Mid-Century
Modern. Daniel’s designs celebrate
clean lines, natural materials and the
integration of indoor and outdoor spaces,
making MIRA Residential a leading voice
in reimagining this iconic architectural
style for modern living.

Meet your guide
<h2>Daniel Thake & Natalie Lawrence</h2>

With Daniel Thake & Natalie Lawrence,MIRA Residential

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This Mid-Century facade uses light
vertical Axon™ Cladding contrasted with
a flat roofline and floor to ceiling windows
to let in ample natural light.

Design Handbook 2025

07,Mid-Century Modern

Ready to specify Hardie™ fibre cement products in your next project?

Hardie™ fibre cement cladding offers a sleek, contemporary finish that
complements the iconic horizontal profiles and low, linear rooflines of
Mid-Century Modern architecture. Daniel highlights that ‘we’ve been
able to use multiple types of cladding to achieve the Mid-Century
Modern look—dominant horizontal banding with different board widths
for contrast.’ Cladding also allows for versatile layering and textural
contrasts, such as smooth panels alongside vertical battens, creating
visual depth and architectural interest while maintaining the clean,
minimalist aesthetic that defines this style.

Jap FineTexture Wide 1440x1440

MH LineaWB Wide 1440x1440

Complementary Products

By reducing maintenance needs,
installation time and vulnerability to
environmental factors, fiber cement
cladding ensures long-term cost
savings and performance, making

it a highly efficient choice for Mid-
Century Modern projects.

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‘The clean lines of James Hardie
cladding create a striking contrast that
adds depth and movement to the facade,
effortlessly extending the eyeline across
the elevation—a hallmark of Mid-Century
Modern design.’
—Daniel Thake, MIRA Residential

MCM Axon Wide 1080x1440

The narrow, vertical groove look enhances the
geometric characteristic of this style and evokes
the wood paneling trend of the 1970s.

BM Matrix FineTexture Stria 1080x1440

Its distinct, V-shaped groove complements the
clean lines and open spaces of Mid-Century Modern
design, offering a modern yet timeless aesthetic.

Cladding solutions

UnitCote Monolith

Wattyl® Floral White

Dulux® COLOURBOND Monument®

Scheme Two

UniCote Hamptons White

Dulux® Lexicon Quarter

Dulux® Snowy Mountains

Scheme One

Colour schemes in Mid-Century Modern homes
should enhance the clean, minimalist aesthetic
while allowing the architecture and materials
to take center stage.

Mid-Century Modern colour schemes are
deeply influenced by nature and the philosophy
of organic architecture, which seeks harmony
between buildings and their surroundings.

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Mid-Century Modern

‘It’s about using
colour to enhance
the architecture’s
connection to
nature and bringing
a colour and life
into everyday,
functional spaces.’
—Daniel Thake, MIRA Residential

Colour palette

An ancillary dwelling can
be used as a home office,
Pilates studio or granny flat,
and can be interchangeable
to meet differing lifestyles
and life stages.

The thoughtful separation of living areas into
distinct zones fosters tranquility and privacy,
while the open-plan living and dining spaces
encourage connection and social interaction.

The texture of Hardie™ Brushed
Concrete Cladding is reminiscent
of softly brushed concrete and puts
focus on the building’s form and
distinguishes the geometric lines.

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The Breeze pod featuring Axon™
Cladding designed and illustrated
by MIRA Residential.

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Mid-Century Modern homes are
designed to seamlessly connect
interior and exterior environments.

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The building’s framework is showcased with exposed
columns or beams. The connectors that join the
structures are often intricately detailed

Visible framework

Visual interest is created through a mix of materials
from different textures and groove lines of cladding to
touches of timber, stone, terrazzo and glass. This pays
homage to the mixed materiality of original Mid-Century
Modern Homes.

Mixed textures

Flat, skillion, gable, or butterfly roofs are concealed
behind parapet walls and feature wide, protruding
or overhanging eaves. The roof defines the shape
of the structure.

Flexible roofline

Expansive floor-to-ceiling windows are a defining
feature of Mid-Century Modern design, flooding
interiors with natural light while creating a seamless
indoor-outdoor connection. Daniel feels that ‘a
central courtyard is key—it brings in natural light,

enhances airflow, and creates a seamless indoor-
outdoor connection.’ Thoughtfully placed windows

and courtyards work together to maximise brightness,
improve ventilation, and blur the boundaries between
inside and out.

Floor to ceiling windows

Strongly influenced by mid-20th century elegance,
interiors feature textured glass, breeze blocks, and
natural stone. A monochromatic colour scheme ensures
contemporary comfort, with splashes of bold colour in
paint, furniture for a sense of playfulness and nostalgia.

Interiors

Design features

07 Mid-Century Modern 2025

When designing this home, the brief was for a $1M - $1.5M
new build delivering timeless architectural character with
modern efficiency. Fitting around 400sqm, the home uses
modular building methods to execute the Mid-Century Modern
style. Material selection is key for this project, with 80-90% of
the exterior facade constructed using James Hardie cladding,
showcasing it as a comprehensive whole-home solution.

Designed by Daniel Thake, MIRA Residential.

JamesHardie DesignHandbook Mid-CenturyModern floorplan

Floorplan

Hardie™ Oblique™ Cladding in
200mm and 300mm along with
a flat roofline expresses the
Mid-Century Modern style.

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Modular construction is a game-changer for building efficiency, offering
a streamlined process that minimises waste and accelerates timelines.
Daniel and Natalie highlight that ‘modular is a form of prefabrication—
it’s built in a controlled environment, which means precise build quality,
reduced material waste, and faster construction times.’

Floor to ceiling windows invite natural
light and create visual continuity
between the interior and exterior.

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Mid-Century Modern homes are
designed to foster a deep connection
to nature, seamlessly blending indoor
and outdoor spaces. Expansive glass
elements invite natural light while creating
visual continuity between the interior
and exterior. Thoughtfully designed
walkways enhance flow and connectivity,
establishing strong focal lines that
promote openness and wellbeing.

‘Mid-Century Modern
is a postwar design
movement where
architects and designers
were quite expressive
with forms but with
limited resources.
It’s about bringing the
outside in and having
vistas out to the gardens
and vegetation.’
—Daniel Thake, MIRA Residential

A combination of Axon™ Cladding
and Hardie™ Brushed Concrete
Cladding is ideal for creating
modern minimalist facades.

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Mid-Century Modern homes are designed with
flexibility at their core, adapting to the evolving needs
of homeowners. Modular construction enhances this
adaptability, allowing spaces to expand, reconfigure,
or re-purpose as lifestyles change. Whether it’s adding
a self-contained suite for elderly parents, a dedicated
home office, or a retreat for growing families, modular
design ensures a seamless integration of new spaces
without compromising the home’s architectural integrity.
This approach future-proofs the home, offering
practical and dynamic solutions for modern living.

Mid-Century Modern homes are designed to work with the
environment, using crosswind breezeways for natural cooling
and deep eave overhangs to provide shading to key living areas.
The naturally low-profile design, along with shaded verandahs
and balconies, creates private outdoor spaces while also
allowing for separate entrances in multi-level homes. Natalie points out that ‘James Hardie cladding is perfect for bushfire-
prone areas—it’s non-combustible and meets BAL ratings up

to Flame Zone.’ This makes it an ideal choice for both durability

and safety, ensuring that homes are comfortable as well as well-
protected in Australia’s diverse climate conditions.

The Modern Homes Forecast 2025 identifies four lifestyle themes changing the way we design and build our homes today. Global and local changes are reshaping how we live, and here we show how Mid-Century Modern homes are evolving to reflect these shifts.

Lifestyle themes

Mid-Century Modern homes masterfully combine natural materials
like timber and stone with industrial elements such as steel and glass,
enhanced by textured finishes and a balance of bold and neutral
tones, creating visually striking surfaces that seamlessly blend
warmth, functionality and modern sophistication.

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MIRA Residential mix unexpected
materials and textures in their Mid-Century Modern designs.

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The sleek, polished surface and
warm tones of burnished concrete
work well in high-traffic kitchen and open-plan living areas.

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Made of pure wood fibre,
Tuscan oak timber-look Evenex
Sincro gives interior joinery clean lines and depth.

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Brushed brass tapware
aligns to the Mid-Century
Modern aesthetic of simplicity,
functionality and elegance.

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Low maintenance crazy paving
in Italian porphyry add texture and tonal variations to outdoor areas.

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Off-white sintered stone
with vein detail for statement
island benches and luxurious
bathroom accents.

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Axon™ Cladding adds texture to
walls and ceilings for modern take on interior joint lining.

The best material choices for
Mid-Century Modern embrace
technology and mix new materials
together to create lighter, more
streamlined, affordable homes
with an emphasis on sustainability.

‘I love blending natural
elements like timber
and stone with bold,
unexpected textures
and finishes, creating
spaces that feel both
grounded and inspiring.’
—Daniel Thake, MIRA Residential

Materials & textures

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Download the Mid-Century Modern Design Handbook as a PDF

Order a sample from the James Hardie™ Architectural Collection.

Order your free sample.

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Explore mid-century modern house design for 2025 with James Hardie. Uncover innovative cladding solutions, cost-saving strategies, and expert insights.

Mid-Century Modern House Forecast 2025 | James Hardie

The style harmonises modern simplicity with the nostalgia
of Mid-Century Modern architecture. It meets all the practical
requirements of a home with efficiency and purpose while
making you feel like you’ve been transported to a natural
oasis. Today’s interpretations embrace technology and mix
new materials together to create lighter, more streamlined,
affordable forms with a stronger focus on sustainability.

Passivhaus (passive house) design principles, indoor-
outdoor spaces, and raised structures are typicalfeatures of Mid-Century Modern architecture down under,
which are optimal not only for our Australian climate
but also for our easy-going, outdoorsy way of life.

As a more experimental style, Mid-Century Modern design
often rebels against aesthetics traditions. Mid-Century Modern
design has found new meaning in Australia and New Zealand, where it is best characterised by flat or raked roof lines, floor-
to-ceiling windows, open-plan living and great indoor-outdoor
flow, many of the qualities in a home that we now recognise
as quintessentially ‘down under’.

Mid-Century Modern homes are
designed for adaptability, ensuring
spaces can evolve with changing needs.
Daniel emphasises that ‘a Mid-Century
Modern home should be flexible—
interchangeable spaces mean a study

today, a bedroom tomorrow, a work-from-
home space later.’ This flexibility is achieved

through open floor plans, seamless indoor-
outdoor integration, strategic window

placement, and zoning that allows rooms
to serve multiple purposes, making these
homes as functional as they are timeless.

Solar passive design, indoor/outdoor spaces and raised
structures are typical features of mid-century modern homes.
Simple, modular forms are easy to replicate, repair or expand,
making them cost-effective and resource-efficient.

Mid-Century Modern designs embrace
technology, combining new materials
and innovative construction methods
to create more efficient homes, with a
stronger focus on sustainability.

‘Building a modular home reduces
construction time to around 12 to 16
weeks, which cuts down holding costs
like rent and mortgage repayments,’
says Natalie.

Prefabricated techniques reduce
labour costs and align well with
the Mid-Century Modern modular
style, ensuring precision and
streamlined construction.

Vertical Axon™ Cladding and Stria™ Cladding
Fine Texture along the fascia are a feature of
this Mid-Century Modern home. Skylights
and lightwells enhance a feeling of wellbeing.

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Clever, functional zoning, multiple access
points to the outdoors and efficient use of
space ensures the design caters to the
changing demands of the modern family.

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The Mid-Century Modern home juxtaposes clean, geometric lines with organic shapes and bright accent colours, evoking a sense of light-heartedness and optimism.

Practical, chic & reminiscent

Use prefabrication to reduce build time and costs

‘Building a modular home reduces construction
time to around 12 to 16 weeks, which cuts down
holding costs like rent and mortgage repayments.’
Faster build times mean less money spent on
temporary housing and site costs, making modular
construction an efficient and cost-effective solution.

Reduce material waste by designing to standard sizes

‘With modular construction, we reduce waste
by designing to board sizes—less offcuts, less
material waste, and lower costs.’ Planning around
standard product sizing minimises unnecessary
waste, saving both on materials and labour.

Use cost-effective cladding for a premium look without the price tag

‘We’ve been able to use multiple types of cladding
to achieve the mid-century modern look—dominant
horizontal banding with different board widths
for contrast.’ Cladding provides a high-end
architectural look while being cheaper and faster
to install compared to brick or concrete.

Invest in passive design to lower long-term costs

‘A central courtyard is key—it brings in natural light,

enhances airflow, and creates a seamless indoor-
outdoor connection.’ Smart design choices like

cross-ventilation, eaves for shading, and strategic
window placement reduce reliance on artificial
heating and cooling, cutting energy costs.

Choose low-maintenance, durable materials

Selecting weather-resistant, termite-proof, and fire-
resistant materials reduces ongoing maintenance

costs, meaning your home remains efficient and cost-
effective over time. Choosing fibre cement over timber,

for example, eliminates the need for regular repainting
and prevents issues like warping or rotting—providing
a low-upkeep alternative that preserves the home’s
modern aesthetic for years to come.