HOME covers the best New Zealand architecture, design and interiors. It features inspirational, ingenious and just plain breathtaking homes from all over the country – as well as new restaurants, exciting art and the latest furniture releases.
As we started putting this issue together, a theme quickly emerged. Admittedly unintentional as it was, it nonetheless felt entirely fitting as we head into the depths of winter. The homes we chose to feature all had a beautiful warmth about them, not just in terms of thermal efficiency — although they had that, too — but in terms of a quietness, a sense of sanctuary and embrace. They are homes that draw you in and offer up the intangible: a sense of being cocooned within yet deeply connected to the world beyond. On the cover is a house that does this particularly well. Its site is unassuming — part of a subdivision in Queenstown with strict design guidelines in place. Its form pushed the limits of said guidelines, the…
Body & soul Wellness space HANA has opened a second location in Parnell. Envisioned as a sanctuary — a place for respite and rejuvenation — where visitors can experience a ritualistic escape from the daily grind, HANA Parnell is located in the Textile Centre. Designed by Pennant & Triumph, the interiors echo those of HANA’s flagship Grey Lynn space: a serene and decadent palette of tiles, travertine, and textural plaster finishes come together to create a refined cocoon of tranquillity and calm. We’re impressed. @hana.space.nz Christchurch unshackled Open Christchurch, the annual festival that gives Cantabrians access to buildings and landscapes that they might otherwise not have a reason to visit took place last 3 – 5 May. Now, in its third year, this excellent iteration included 50 plus buildings ranging…
The Chair: A story of design and making in Aotearoa Edited by Kim Paton and Victoria McAdam OBJECTSPACE In a way, the chair is to architecture what the haiku is to the literary novel. It’s a condensed exploration of form; the distillation of a design language into a unique expression of an idea — all for the sake of a rather mundane use. As such, the common ol’ chair has become the stuff of legends, with architects the world over placing ideology, nationality, and loftier briefs on the few inches that separate the seat from its corresponding back. This book was published as a record and celebration of an exhibition that, by now, seems as if it has ingrained itself in the common parlance of dedicated followers of beauty: Objectspace’s The…
IT IS THIS notion that underpins Elan’s expression as an artist, and it is also what he seeks to capture, even if fleetingly, in the viewers of his work. “To take people out of their minds … this is it, right here, right now, this is life. To have people show up, even if it is just for a moment — to look at a beautiful piece of art, to be present for what is, is a gift in life,” he says. Elan was born in New York City. He tells us he wasn’t one of those children who, as a budding artist, scribbled on napkins at the kitchen table. “In 1977, someone showed me a technique with ink and I found it fascinating.” He turned this first foray in…
WHAT STARTED AS a film that sought to record the bid to save one of the most architecturally significant buildings in Christchurch, the Christchurch Town Hall, became something much more expansive than was initially foreseen. Director and producer Rick Harvie had interviewed Sir Miles Warren for a short documentary on the Christchurch Town Hall just prior to the Christchurch earthquakes, and noted that, throughout the interview, he made mention of “Maurice and I” in reference to his partner in the groundbreaking architecture firm, Warren and Mahoney. Already intrigued by the partnership, Rick met Maurice’s daughter, Jane Mahoney, in 2011. She was working at the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority, producing documentaries about recovery initiatives taking place. An initial discussion about creating a documentary regarding the Town Hall was expedited into action…
THE HEART OF this Westmere home designed by Evelyn McNamara Architects is accessed via a glazed stair that leads down from street level to a south-facing lower floor. The journey down is one of noticeable lightness; a significant juxtaposition to the jewel in the crown — the open-plan living, dining, and kitchen space where warmth and tactility exude across layer and material. It is a meeting of materials that articulates a beautiful sense of calm. A concrete floor sits beneath a timber-lined ceiling; in between marble is juxtaposed with accents of black, adding depth and focus to this palette of luxurious warmth. Perhaps the most subtle but evocative inclusion is the Ambitec Suave Polished Plaster — a decadent addition above the fireplace, which is mirrored in the bar. Using the…
