Barn - Medium Density

The Barn style reimagines rural forms through a bold and expressive lens. Drawing from its simple, traditional silhouette, this evolution transforms the design through sculptural finishes and rich materiality. Strong form is blended with raw, grounded textures to create a space that is both bold and comforting. Barn’s graphic silhouette is met with layered materiality, deep tones, and textural contrasts that evoke nature’s beauty, while principles of passive design are thoughtfully integrated to add depth and a sense of quiet efficiency.

Dramatic rooflines, asymmetrical details, and expressive forms inject bold personality, while overlaid materiality and light create immersive, natural beauty. Effortless flow is achieved through strategic natural light, airflow, and smart, passive design, and simplified, graphic constructions ensure low upkeep and strong visual character while enabling comfort.

A palette of creamy whites and greens, gently layered with deep bark and soft pink, suggests a grounded yet expressive foundation. Raw, clay-like walls and wooden textures with bold green tile accents enable visual depth. The abundance of colours and textures, animated by dramatic light play, creates a space that is both comforting and sensorially profound.

About the Trend

Practical Guidelines

Angular profiles: Consider bold, angular profiles to create architectural presence while supporting passive airflow and shading.
Smart solar control: Incorporate deep overhangs and recessed windows for sculptural depth and practical natural light management.
Integrate nature: Integrate nature into the built form with courtyards or expansive framed views.
Balance healing colours: Combine serene nurturing creams and pinks with deep browns and greens to build a deeply restorative home environment.
Emphasise textural contrasts: Layer smooth surfaces like smooth fibre cement cladding, plaster and concrete with rough and rustic textures like stone to transform minimal forms into an immersive, everyday sensory experience.

Recommended products

Stria™ Cladding 325mm

Stria™ Cladding: The distinctive deep grooved lines and can be laid horizontally or vertically for an eye-catching effect to complement strong barn shapes.

Hardie™ Flex Sheet and Hardie™ Axent™ Trim

Axon™ Panel Smooth: The smooth finish in combination with Hardie™ Axent™ Trim create depth, texture and height to the design.

Oblique™ Weatherboard 200mm and 300mm

Oblique™ Weatherboard: The wide grooves and design flexibility of board widths delivers drama and visual interest to barn facades.

Linea™ Weatherboard

Linea Weatherboard:The strong shadow lines of this weatherboard with Linea™ Aluminium Corner Soakers adds a sleek modern twist.

Axon™ Panel Grooved 133mm cladding

Axon Panel Grooved:  The vertical groove lines make an impact to simple barn designs by bringing variety and textural interest to external walls.

Theme Insights

Creative Living

Barn’s dramatic forms, layered textures, and expressive details invite personalisation and striking self-expression. The home becomes a canvas for creativity, blending rural inspiration with contemporary flair

Multi-generational Living

Open floorplans and flexible zones support families living together across generations. Barn design balances communal gathering with private retreats, adapting to evolving household needs.

Autonomous Living

Combines bold form with practical efficiency, using passive strategies and enduring materials to create homes that care for their occupants. Barn is built to endure, offering self-sufficiency and peace of mind in changing conditions.

Recommended paint colours

Exterior

Dulux
Cardrona
Dulux
Kauri Cliffs Half
Dulux
Te Aroha
Dulux
Taieri
Dulux
Colorsteel® Pioneer Red
Dulux
Lake Hayes
Dulux
Blackwood Bay
Standard greentag
Standard healthrate

Global GreenTag™ GreenRate™ Level A and Product Health Declaration™ PHD Platinum Health mean our products have passed the world's toughest standards for health, eco performance and safety.

Feature case study

Axon™ Panel in high-density social housing

Axon™ Panel plays a major part in the creation of contemporary, brightly-coloured homes for high-density social housing with a difference.

READ MORE
Closed and Opened Design Books

The Design Book

BUILD YOUR MODERN LIFE

The Hardie™ Cladding Collection has a wide variety of products to select from, creating design versatility, in which It’s Possible™ to Make Modern™ like never before. It’s a movement that’s reshaping perceptions and changing the way New Zealand builds. Whether you are planning a renovation, new build, or extension, this forecast will be an invaluable tool on your journey. Welcome to the James Hardie Design Handbook. It's time to Build Your Modern Life.

Where

To buy our products

Get

The James Hardie Product Guide

See

James Hardie's Modern Design Forecast

Find your nearest Showhome

  • Select Option
  • 1237 Howard Street, Parkvale, Hastings
  • 9 McGarry Drive, Kaiapoi
  • 30 Hallmark Drive, Richmond
  • 8 Homestead Drive, Rangiora
  • 11 Rose Manor Drive, Springlands, Blenheim
  • 43 Belgrove Place, Parklands, Christchurch, Canterbury
  • 10 Homestead Drive, Rangiora
  • 4 Homestead Dr, Rangiora
  • 21 Homestead Drive, Bellgrove, Rangiora
  • 40B Johns Rd, Belfast, Christchurch
  • 50, Lochridge Drive, Kinloch, 3300, Waikato
  • 145 Kaniere Road, Kaniere, Hokitika
  • 19 Clydesdale Drive, Holmes Hill, Oamaru
  • 52, Summersfield Boulevard, Appleby, 7081, Tasman
  • 74 Pelorus Avenue, Poraiti, Napier
  • 163 Brookside Road, Rolleston
  • 37 Meadowstone Street, Gleniti, Timaru
  • 21 Skibbereen Drive, Halswell, Christchurch
  • 80, Benashet Drive, Lincoln, 7672, Canterbury
  • 32 Nikau Drive, Redwoodtown, Blenheim
  • 19 Finstock Way, Springston
  • 16 Camberley Road, Richmond
  • 119 Carters Road, Amberley
  • 72 Hitchen Road, Pōkeno
  • 27 Finstock Way, Springston
  • 7 Oakbridge Boulevard, Marshland, Christchurch
  • 13 Oakbridge Boulevard, Marshland, Christchurch
  • 46 Arbuckle Road, Frimley, Hastings
  • 9 Montiicola Drive, Papamoa Beach, Papamoa
  • 1, Flounder Drive, Ōmokoroa
  • 7, Tūhua Close, Wharewaka, Taupō, 3378, Waikato
  • 2, Walsh Road, 2110, Auckland
  • Rotorua Grove, Aotea, Porirua, 5024, Wellington
  • 2, Buddle Road, Paerata, 2676, Auckland
  • 11, Highland Drive, Acacia Bay, Taupō, 3385, Waikato
  • Kahukaka Road, One Tree Point, 0118, Northland
  • Pampas Drive, 0992, Auckland
  • 29, Kimbrae Drive, Hamilton, 3210, Waikato
  • 50, Hitchens Road, Pokeno, 2402, Waikato
  • Jonah Lomu Drive, Paerata, 2676, Auckland
  • Flaxfield Lane, Beachlands, 2571, Auckland
  • 1, Manutewhau Road, Massey, 0614, Auckland
  • 10, Ripeka Lane, Whenuapai, 0618, Auckland
  • 12, Harriet Johnston Drive, Pokeno, 2472, Waikato
  • Podgora Avenue, Kumeu, 0891, Auckland
  • Kapia Road, Massey, 0614, Auckland
  • 17, Brown Street, Inglewood, 4330, Taranaki
  • 109, Wairau Drive, Tikipunga, Whangarei, 0112, Northland
  • 60, Stace Hopper Drive, Whangarei, 0118, Northland
  • 1, Kukuwai Avenue, Red Beach, 0932, Auckland
  • 25, Jonah Lomu Drive, Pukekohe, 2676, Auckland
  • 190 Matua Road, Huapai
  • 47 Main Street, Greytown
1237 Howard Street, Parkvale, Hastings