Innholdsfortegnelse for December - January 2024/2025 i Home New Zealand

FROM THE STREET, the original charm remains: horizontal weatherboards meet ornate fretwork, it's the moment the front door opens that the experience changes — and slowly the reveal of what's beyond gathers pace. Reach the end of the original hallway and you're deposited into a space of perfectly executed drama; here, a voluminous extension is housed in a floating box, which opens onto an inviting poolscape where minimalism and decadence are at the fore. There's no escaping the beauty of this place, and it starts underfoot, where architectural designer, Chris Tate, specified the use of PeterFell 155 coloured concrete, a light-toned grey hue from the brand's Neutral Range. We chose this because we wanted consistency and certainty with the colour. We used 155 because it works beautifully with the light…

You grew up in Aotearoa and Ireland. How did you come to be an architect? I did my first three years of studying architecture in Dublin, then took a gap year to come back to New Zealand. When I first got to New Zealand, I started door knocking at architectural practices. I managed to get a job, and I stayed in New Zealand for seven-and-a-half years. I did my masters at Victoria University, where I really opened up and pushed myself. How did you become interested in public housing? At Jerram Tocker Barron Architects, I spent three years working on a retrofit programme of 400-odd Kāinga Ora houses. I was inspecting existing public housing and speaking to the residents. How we create more affordable housing became a topic I'm really…

IN THIS COUNTRY, we like our seasonal destinations; the well-trodden familiar ones rather than a constant reinvention. As such, our holiday homes have started to serve as a backdrop to several stages in family life. They grow in metreage and complexity as the family expands, then slim themselves down, but see added comforts as the heads of the clan approach retirement. The bach, the holiday house, and the retirement pad all sometimes share functions and end goals, but, for the inhabitants, the motivations are far more varied. As we see in some of the stories that follow, some view the holiday home as a recharging station, others see it as a bunker in which to keep the realities of work firmly at bay. For some, the holiday home is a…

THE DIRECTOR OF Lightforce Solar, John Harman, doesn't mince his words. He pulls up to our meeting in an electric vehicle, gets out, and plugs it in to charge. He's not paying for the privilege, he tells us, thanks to the rooftop solar that was installed on this house about a year ago; instead, he's showing us how more New Zealanders can power their homes — and cars — with the sun. In the house he's invited us to, John explains, the owners have not had a power bill, and have generated income by selling excess power back to the grid throughout the year — all by integrating rooftop solar. There's not much sun when we visit; it's a warm spring day and the clouds are filtering the light intermittently.…

YOU ARRIVE AT this gated community through a series of dusty, country gravel roads that meander past farms, rolling hills, and endangered wetlands that feed a nearby lake cocooned within the contours of the dunes. At a T-junction, one is welcomed by the first indications of something slightly out of the ordinary: portions of a black-clad building peep through the hedgeline, hinting at a size and level of comfort quite unlike anything seen on these rural roads. Te Ārai is the most recent sister property established by the developers of Tara Iti — likely the country's most exclusive golf-focused gated community — a mere 20 minutes drive north. Although this newer course has a slightly more open-door policy — the links are semi-public and its clubhouse and restaurant are not…

WIN Ti Kouka Tree of Life Circle 2024 by Michael Moore, valued at $6000! To enter: visit us online at homemagazine.nz or on Instagram @homemagazine.nz “THE FIRST FOUR years of my life were spent at Te Wharau, in a little valley east of Masterton surrounded by hills. I still have a conscious memory of those first years, and they continue to inform my perception,” Michael tells us. Ti kōuka, the cabbage tree, has been a long-standing focus of his art. “In the Wairarapa, they're everywhere. I feel there is nothing more nostalgic or ‘New Zealand’ than the cabbage tree.” One particular cabbage tree, in the flood-plain just outside of Greymouth, first caught Michael's attention nearly a quarter of a century ago. “I was introduced to it by botanist Philip Simpson,…

MODEST IN SIZE, this holiday home has a compelling honesty about it. Sited amongst residences of much grander proportions in the dunes of exclusive gated enclave, Te Ārai, in Mangawhai, it overlooks the golf course and the sea. While nestled privately on its site with no neighbouring properties visible, it is open to the viewers’ gaze from the green. As a result, architect Andrew Meiring conceived a series of sculptural moves that define this humble home and offer a character that belies its size. Using an exterior palette of raw concrete and vertical cedar weatherboards in various sizes, the form sits quietly amidst coastal grasses, between the forest behind, and the dunes beyond. The clients, Andrew says, were particularly keen to let the exterior weather and settle inconspicuously into its…

THE IDEA, EXPLAINS architect Sam Baxter of Sumich Chaplin Architects, was to use a palette of natural materials to give the existing house — which was built as part of the original subdivision — a facelift to create something that was respectful to the landscape. “We took the original roofiines of the house and extended parts and relieved others; we wanted to create a lightness on the beachfront by extending the roofs on each end to make it feel like it sat above the dunes.” The floor-plan remained relatively the same as that of the original house, but the joinery configuration was changed to open the house to the land. Timber screens — some operable and others fixed — were introduced as a defining element that links the front and…

Wanaka S.K.I. House Roberts Gray Architects The private house has become a contentious category in architecture as we grapple with issues of sustainability, density, and housing security. In response, Roberts Gray has approached this building type with propositions that extend architectural thinking. There is evident speculation about how stubborn vernaculars might be challenged and a suggestion of fresh approaches to materiality, massing, privacy, and transparency and balance of built form to landscape. This meticulously detailed and experientially beautiful house reveals impressive technical ability and a finely wrought aesthetic judgement. Importantly, it also demonstrates architectural thinking in this young practice that could lead to a better urbanism. Ravenscar House Patterson Associates A project rising from destruction, Ravenscar is the generous gifting by Jim and Susan Wakefield of their art and artefact…

FLEXI HOUSE MODULES are deconstructed, panel by panel, leaving only the parts of the original house still in use. The panels are then transported to a location of choice, and reconstructed to form the basis of a new home, which can be added to as required. This is the future, at least according to entrepreneur André Heller, who founded Flexi House a few years ago. His vision is one that outlines an entirely new ethos; pushing the boundaries of off-site construction and sustainability. André originally trained as a product designer and never imagined working in the construction industry; these were worlds that traditionally didn't overlap. However, during a period when he was living in London, he was offered a job with an architecture firm — a role that would see…

THIS IS THE work of Chris Tate, who initially viewed the house on behalf of clients who were, at the time, based in the United States. “They had seen some of my work online and reached out, wanting to know what was possible and what wasn't. So I met the real estate agent and went on a bit of a recce … and ended up going up into the roof and saw an opportunity,” Chris says. That opportunity has unfolded in a series of invigoratingly uncomplicated forms with a decidedly contemporary appeal — in complete juxtaposition to the ornate detailing of the villa that now forms just part of the new house. The front has remained virtually untouched, while the back has been extended to incorporate a large kitchen, living,…

“WE WERE PRESENTED with a beautifully manicured lawn sloping gently to the east. Through the amphitheatre of native trees were mist-laden valley views. The idea was for the building to be humble and recessive; to showcase all that we love about rural New Zealand — it would be humble yet strong, understated but luxurious, casual sophistication at its best,” explains architect Adam Mercer, of Mercer & Mercer. The joy here is the surroundings, and, as such, the home was designed to sit gently; a speculative part of nature at its best. There is no ‘wow’ moment to the exterior — that lies within. This is a place of some constraints, with north-westerly winds from the Tasman Sea accelerating as they move up the ridgeline and hitting the top of this…

AS THE MERCURY rises, so too does our appetite for creativity and relaxation, and home is the perfect place to restore a sense of ease and optimism for the year ahead. As Dulux colour specialist Davina Harper explains the new summer trends: “Throughout the last few years, we've seen a shift towards people using coloured neutrals and bolder shades within their homes. Vibrant and uplifting hues like those featured within the Dulux Emerge palette, one of the three palettes from our Dulux Colour Forecast for 2025, can be used together in any combination to bring joy back into our homes this summer.” Pictured here is a character home that was transformed by doing just this: the hallway walls and arch are painted in Dulux Cornstalk, with Dulux Hagley Park on…

WHEN OUT WALKING their dog, an Auckland couple would often stop outside a house in the suburb of Mount Eden, purely to imbibe its architecture. Although not excessive or overly attention-seeking, that family abode presents a façade of concrete and steel that exudes clarity of design and deftness when manoeuvring its densely populated context. “We admired that house on a daily basis for a very long time,” says one of the pair (who wish to remain anonymous). So, when they wanted to build a bach at Langs Beach in Northland — an area they have been visiting and renting holiday homes in for close to 15 years — it was an easy decision to approach the architect (and owner) of that Mount Eden house: Dave Strachan of Strachan Group Architects.…

WHEN THIS BEACH house started making the rounds in the local architectural media and awards circuit, one of the first comments was that it was “clearly a building of its time” (NZIA's citation after it had won the 2015 Auckland Architecture Award for Residential Architecture). More than 10 years later, the abode still resonates, feeling not just pertinent but full of moves that are entirely enduring. It is situated on an idyllic isthmus that separates Hauai Bay from Oke Bay in the Northland town of Rāwhiti (population of approximately 140 people), an area said to be rich in early pre-colonial history — the surrounding hills retain the remains of ancient pā sites. When the project was commissioned, the clients had been coming to the area for 40 years. They wanted…

Shelter from the Storm By Shaun Barnett, Rob Brown, Geoff Spearpoint Potton & Burton Quoting the mountain hut vernacular has become de rigueur for architects from all walks of life in New Zealand. From the simplest of bachs to large urban commercial spaces, the usage of corrugate and timber, gable and exposed nail, continues to be attributed to our communal fascination with the simple mountain hut and the mystical allure it holds in our national psyche. Why these often miniscule, usually haphazardly made, glorified garden sheds get so much attention is easy to see; they encapsulate many of the traits New Zealand holds dear: modest, utilitarian, unpretentious, and deeply connected to an adventurous, muscle-driven lifestyle that requires sacrifice and plenty of egalitarianism. The backcountry hut is built through sheer physicality —…

THE CURVATURE OF the dunes conceals most of the lower half of this beach house from the road. The linearity of the corrugated roof form glints slightly like some mysterious flying object that has landed firmly on the shore. The walking path to the house is not immediately obvious, and the tussock-like grasses, which were still in their infancy during our visit, give this sand-covered site an even more surreal personality. Some years ago, Pattersons was approached by a couple — who reside in Australia — to create a holiday home among the golf links of Tara Iti. The house was to be a minimalist space, a sort of encampment to spend the night while the days were devoted to the golfing opportunities next door. “It's not a big entertaining…

WHEN IN THE process of designing a new holiday home, it helps if the architect is a mate with whom you have spent significant downtime. “Given the fact that we've holidayed all around the world and New Zealand together,” says Studio Pacific's Stephen McDougall, who was the lead architect on this Wānaka house for a couple of friends, “it helped me understand how [the clients] operate.” He knew, for instance, that the space was going to need to accommodate a widely varying number of visitors — from two to around 20; and that each of the two owners had very distinct ideas of what relaxation looks like: one, a serious sporting fan (mountain biking and skiing), the other, a seeker of more meditative pursuits. McDougall knew small details as well;…