Innholdsfortegnelse for June - July 2024 i Home New Zealand

AS THE IDEA began to take shape, the foundations were laid for a global brand that would go on to present architectural collections that speak of elegance, simplicity, and longevity — those in which design and function meet in a collision of demanding presence. The first brick-and-mortar store was opened in Burleigh Heads, Queensland in 2016, where tiles, and rose gold and matte black bathroom fixtures were the initial offerings. Fast forward two years and the range expanded with the launch of a brushed brass finish, firmly cementing the brand as an innovator with its signature cost-effective PVD colouring. The following year saw an increase in signature coloured finishes to seven, alongside an expanded range of kitchen and laundry fixtures. Next step: New Zealand. ABI Interiors introduced its compelling range…

HOME + Studio Italia WITHIN THAT SEQUENCE, visitors were taken on an eloquent journey through the hallmarks of modern design — from the new finishes of four Bauhaus-era collections to the archival reissue of the Tugendhat Chair by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and on to Knoll’s newest release, the Perron Pillo Sofa by Willo Perron. The latter looks to the future of design, with the Pillo Sofa translating the designer’s distinct perspective to an unexpected form — seemingly a stack of oversized pillows — an all-encompassing comfort that feels easy and a familiar. With deep seats to be sat in, not on, the sofa is an invitation to curl up and relax. The four Bauhaus-era collections were on display, each of which will be commercially produced in three new…

DESIGN THE HOUSE STANDS as a sturdy refuge, braced against the powerful forces of the coastal environment, tempered with a dynamism achieved through a sculptural arrangement of forms. An intentional step away from the local vernacular, which embraces maritime references with elongated or eroded gable forms, this home presents an entirely refreshing perspective. “Rising from a solid base, the house radiates a sense of fortification — a tangible response to the ever-changing coastal environment,” explains Duval O’Neill, architect and director of Herriot Melhuish O’Neill Architects. “The implications of climate change on a site such as this are clear. The minimum floor level is set 1400mm above the natural ground level, which essentially added half a storey.” A complex level of restraints resulted in a doublestoreyed iteration of what was initially…

THIS TIMBER BOX is both introverted and expressive. The interior was once described by guests as being like the inside of a wooden jewellery box — a comment with which the owners agreed. “Our home continues to bring us delight … even now we sometimes find ourselves momentarily lost in admiring this special thing.” It is indeed a special thing, one innately connected with its alpine surrounds, and a subtle statement within its suburban setting of Jack’s Point in Queenstown, where strict design guidelines are at play. The split gable presents a sculptural face to the street, a concept that winds inside where architect Rafe Maclean and project lead Libby Morgan speak of a sense of enclosure, of spaces modulated by light and material. “The deeper you go into the…

DESIGN Strachan Group Architects are no strangers to designing compact gems with a lot of inbuilt flexibility. Their soulful ‘My Whare’, for instance, explored the possibilities of the tiny-house movement but with an element of pared-back elegance that was refreshing for the typology. Here they have delivered a similar offering, but with relaxation within the elements squarely at its heart. A self-contained cabin overlooking a Coromandel surf break provides a snug extension to a family bach, or a rugged yet entirely beautiful, stand-alone space that can be shifted to different parts of the land. Flexibility is key to the design of the Beach Hut, which sits on an elevated site among towering pōhutukawa trees and has expansive views of the Coromandel coast. Built on a tiny-house trailer, the 17-square-metre hut…

THREE MINUTES’ DRIVE south-east of this home in the Christchurch suburb of Fendalton is the Ballantyne House, an iconic, late 1950s house designed by Sir Miles Warren. A similar distance in the opposite direction is the site of a house, now demolished, that the late architect designed for his parents in 1960. Both homes bore that early vocabulary of the great Miles, which blended New Zealand colonial cottage architecture with allusions to Dutch and Japanese modernism: simple, steep gable roofs — sans eaves — covered in timber shingles; long rectangular forms of pale brick or concrete block; punched openings; and that penchant for exposing the structural, inner workings of buildings. This was a cocktail of simplicity rather than grandeur; modest in its influences, meditative in its intent, and deeply transparent…

HOMES A GAME OF two halves is a well-worn cliché, but bear with us while we apply it to a Tāmaki Makaurau dwelling. First, there are the two halves of the site. At the front, a noisy arterial route, moving thundering trucks and commuters in cars, and lined with unremarkable homes, can be seen and most definitely heard. At the back, paddocks, cows, sheep, and number 8 wire fences fill the vista. It’s a pastoral scene — a stark departure from the aforementioned trappings of suburban sprawl, and the quiet is deafening. Then there’s the dichotomy of the layout of the house. Created by Marc Lithgow of Space Division, the dwelling stretches across the width of the 809 square metre section. A spine runs through the middle of the home,…

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…

HOME + Peter Fell WHEN THE OWNERS first came across this site, and spoke with architect Evelyn McNamara about the possibility of designing a home for their family of seven, it was always going to be a challenge to create a series of spaces that stepped down the steep, tight site closely flanked on either side by neighbouring homes. The solution was to push the street-facing elevation close to the boundary, with the garage and entrance gallery at the highest part of the site. A spacious bedroom wing is stepped half a level down, occupying the south-eastern side of the building. The hero of the house exists at the lowest part of the site, accessed via a timber stairway flooded with light from full-height glazing to the west. At the…

OPINION IN THE EVER-evolving landscape of urban development, the discourse on city planning has shifted towards the essential need for increased density. As an architect and urban designer, I have witnessed the transformative potential of embracing density as a cornerstone of sustainable urbanism. Quality multi-unit development is a viable alternative to the conventional suburban model. Such a shift not only addresses the pressing challenges of climate change and sustainability but also fosters the creation of robust communities, all while maximising the efficient utilisation of existing resources, particularly through our most valuable resource: land. Reducing our footprint Central to this discussion is the acknowledgment of the urgent need to combat climate change. Cities, as hubs of human activity, are significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Sprawling suburban developments exacerbate this issue…

DESIGN HOME + Dryden PERHAPS UNEXPECTEDLY, THE pairing of materials devised by architect Duval O’Neill of Herriot Melhuish O’Neill Architects saw larch juxtaposed with rock and stainless steel. At ground level, the form is at once solid and skeletal; a rock wall defines the pedestrian entry sequence, and gives way to vast areas of glazing interspersed with vertical larch that folds around the form as it expands and contracts, before meeting the stainless steel that extends the height of the eastern elevation and defines the majority of the upper storey. The materials do two things particularly well. First, they recess into the tones of the landscape — the steel by picking up the ever-changing light, and the larch, which was finished with Dryden WoodOil Platinum, by echoing the sandy tones of…

HOMES ENTER ARCHITECT EVELYN McNamara and the project quickly began to take shape — ultimately delivering a dynamic family home with an unassuming street presence and a layered internal journey that unfolds slowly as the site descends, opening out at its lowest point to a brooding south-facing view. The whole project came about almost by accident. Owners Katie and Mark Aue were renting a property at the other end of the street. When they invited their friends over sometime just before the Covid lockdowns, their guests turned left instead of right onto the Aue’s street and happened upon a run-down property for sale. When they alerted Katie and Mark, the enthusiasm for the potential of the site was palpable. The property was sold with consented plans that didn’t suit the…

WHAT IF A house was designed to last not 50 or even 100 years, but two whole centuries? What difference would that make when it came to its design? That’s the question Tony Koia asked when creating a new home in Central Otago. “We’re focused on the ‘whole of life’ for a house,” says Koia, founder of Kola Architects. “The building code focuses on a lifespan of 50 years, but we have to go beyond that. We should be going forwards and creating houses that can last for 200 years. If you do that, you can make totally different choices; you have different criteria for using products and measuring their costs.” Longevity wasn’t the only priority for Koia. The house in the upmarket neighbourhood of Bendemeer also had to be…

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…

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…

HOME + CDK Stone DESIGNED BY AW Architects, it responds to the clients’ brief for a versatile entertaining space; an elegant addition suited equally to daily family life and intimate soirées. In order to seamlessly articulate these requirements, designer Jessica Bartlett envisioned seamless integrations between form, function, and material. Tucked behind the main kitchen is a scullery where the working spaces are artfully concealed; within the cabinetry, a decadent bar. Undoubtedly the hero of all three is the CDK Stone Arabescato Vagli marble, from which the island benchtop, rear benchtop and splashback, bar, and scullery benchtop and splashback were all formed. “The clients wanted something special. They spoke of creating an entertaining space that felt more like a hotel. When we were looking at the slabs, we all felt this…

Perched above this breathtaking bay is premier luxury accommodation, Paroa Bay Winery and Estate. The property features two villas, two new off-grid vineyard cabins, a sprawling boutique vineyard plus one hat restaurant Sage — ensuring every aspect of a luxurious experience is not only catered to but plentifully provided for. TARĀPUNGA VILLA Tarāpunga is the premier villa on The Lindis Group’s Paroa Bay Winery property. Boasting a unique perspective overlooking Paroa Bay itself and the wider Bay of Islands, the villa is aptly named after the local seabirds who frequent the area, with its roof paying homage to the soaring wings of the Tarāpunga. With complete consideration given to the environment, the villa’s incredible views are an inherent part of the building’s design. Sweeping windows and doors opening onto an…

PRACTICE PROFILE JAMES AND THOMAS met while working at a large architecture firm a few years ago and found they shared a desire to approach their work in a different way: to offer a more intimate approach to design, one in which budget was less of a consideration than capturing the imperceptible — the emotive choreography of space. In 2019, Seear-Budd Ross was formed and the pair embarked on a journey of creativity that quickly put their work at the forefront of the New Zealand design story. Fast forward a few years and their evolving portfolio presents itself in an unequivocally local manner while embracing a thoughtful global ethos. The duo’s initial, and enduring, ethos for the firm was grounded in the idea that architecture is aspirational: the ability to…

Warm memories of a family’s camping and hiking holidays inspired the aesthetic for this secondary dwelling, couched alongside an existing home in Rotorua. Designed to accommodate ageing parents in their retirement years, while also allowing for flexibility in the future, this 115-square-metre dwelling by DCA Architects was created with nostalgic references to the many Department of Conservation (DOC) huts the family has stayed in over the years, explains architect Werner Naude. “The DOC hut spatial typology and aesthetic became a clear driver for the design response, with the metal cladding, colours, window placement, clear roofing, and exposed roof structure working together to recall the simple, rugged yet playful hut aesthetic, with a modern interpretation.” In keeping with the tradition of a DOC hut opening into the open-plan social space, a…

HOMES THE MYSTERY OF this extraordinary place intensifies as you draw nearer; the house was designed to blend seamlessly into the landscape, so much so that it’s almost invisible to the naked eye from land and air — and, in fact, from most angles, even when closely approaching the site. Largely underground, the 145-square-metre abode is dug into a gently sloping hill. Surrounded by a vast landscape of tussock dotted with the odd farm fence, it’s a place that’s about as remote as they come in New Zealand. There are no neighbours, and there is no other visible evidence of a built environment. “It’s a simple landscape. There are some flat areas and some hills. You might see a few sheep grazing but that’s about it,” architect Richard Dalman of…

A NEW ART space unlike anything else in Aotearoa has opened its doors in Onehunga. The flagship premises of Gow Langsford incorporates studios for emerging artists to develop their craft and an extensive visual arts library that is open to the public, alongside an exquisite new gallery space. After more than 35 years in business, gallerists John Gow, Gary Langsford, and Anna Jackson, of Gow Langsford, sought a space to give back to Ahe community and support New Zealand’s maturing art scene. The site they found for their project was an industrial building on Princes Street that was commissioned in 1958 by Polish businesswoman, philanthropist, and arts patron, Helena Rubinstein. The influence of 1930s Bauhaus architecture is evident in the design of the building, Gow Langsford spent a year undertaking…