Innholdsfortegnelse for August - September 2025 i Home New Zealand

ODDTHING'S PRODUCTS OFTEN answer questions we didn't quite know we were asking. Take the Display Book Stand, for example, a wing-like wedge of aluminium that treats a book like a functional sculpture; or the Simple Soap Bottle Shelf, a slimline bracket that elegantly suspends bottles rather than shelving them. Then there's The Long Light, which is modular by design and fits over kitchen islands of any size. “My design process often starts with an interaction, something noticed in everyday use, or a passing comment. Sometimes, it's spotting a chance to improve a space or exploring a manufacturing technique to form an object in a unique way. From there, I refine those ideas into simple, functional products that can be made in low volumes here in Auckland, New Zealand,” Henry explains.…

“OWING TO A distilled concept, the spatial dynamic is limited to the necessary. It is an unfussy and honest design response sympathetic to the powerful energy of the land, underpinned by the poetic notion of connecting people to their human experience — the body and mind independently and as one,” architects Katrina Keshaw and Xuan McArthur Nguyen of Keshaw McArthur explain. A square plan and corrugated roof reference historical structures of the region, while spaces open and close around the needs of the occupants. “The plan establishes a continuous field within which several heavy concrete volumes provide a groundedness among the collection of interchangeable spaces. “A large open fireplace anchors the building's centre — pushing up from the ground, these solid concrete masses function as an extension of the mountainous…

MORE THAN 13,000 homes across New Zealand have already earned Homestar certification — a clear sign of growing demand for smarter, healthier living. Homestar assesses key factors like energy use, water efficiency, indoor health, comfort, and resilience — all of which contribute to lower utility bills and a better quality of life. “Homestar empowers Kiwis to build better, healthier homes - and play their part for the planet. With a Building Code that has failed to keep up with changes in our market and the variations in our climate up and down the country, Homestar provides the solution. The industry has evolved, upskilled, and adapted, allowing us to continue raising the bar and delivering homes that are more resilient and comfortable to live in,” says NZGBC's Residential Business Development Manager…

IN COLLABORATION WITH Dulux, we recently invited Andrea to develop a painting in response to the landscapes of Aotearoa — a work that would echo the same regional resonance explored in the architectural projects within our upcoming book, Homes of this Decade. Rather than producing a singular view, Andrea created a series: canvases that each conjure a specific place, two of which frame the opening and closing pages of the book. Using the Dulux Colours of New Zealand range, each painting hovers between clarity and suggestion, speaking to the nuanced ways we connect with place — often instinctive, and alwavs lavered. In each of these works, Andrea presents an immersive insight into her memories of our landscapes “As a human sponge for visual information, I've permanently absorbed these tonal details.…

WHEN ADAM TAYLOR'S clients first approached him — through friends of friends, as happens — to renovate the home that had been in their family for 30 years, they spoke of sentiment first. “They think of this as the house they raised their three children in,” says Adam. “They have a real emotional attachment to it.” Built in the 1970s, the house began as no beauty — just a basic, two-level, red brick dwelling on a concrete-block base. The owners, who, as empty nesters, had moved elsewhere in Mount Maunganui, had no intention of selling. They were looking to hold on to it, first as a rental, then, who knows? Their brief was for a “flash bach” — a place that felt simple and modest, but with better functionality and…

PART OF THE Special Charcoal range, PeterFell 609 is a light-toned grey. Used as part of a wider neutral material palette against warm timbers, it formed the basis of a design that looks both outward to its alpine setting and inward to Maja's Danish design heritage. The house is, first and foremost, about the view: the serrated lines of the Remarkables fill every window, while Lake Wakatipu shimmers to the south. To keep that drama uncluttered, materials are deliberately restrained. “PeterFell 609 is one of the lighter tones, which lets the brown, earthy colours of the stone aggregate come through,” Maja explains. “We used the same coloured concrete for the interior floor and for the outdoor paving.” Forming a U-shape, the plan shelters a central courtyard from biting southerlies. Here,…

MATT JEFFERY, of Johnston Architects, is rightly proud of the five custom-fabricated dormers. Made from aluminium, they arrived on site as fully welded singular units that slotted into place as punctuations of the roofline. Meticulously crafted, the dormers appear sleek against the weight of textured concrete. The clients, drawn to the confident lines and robust materiality prevalent in the studio's work, are a couple with two children in their early teens. Their involvement in the commercial construction industry meant they were always going to lean towards concrete as the hero of the design. A flat, waterfront site is a dream come true, but the challenge was to fit a full programme, including four bedrooms and an office, onto the 700-square metre section, without compromising outdoor living. Breaking up the plan…

Light play Light art experience Darklight by Angus Muir Design returns to Auckland this September with a bold new chapter, Darklight: The Edge of Light. Set against the sweeping backdrop of Okahu Bay, the exhibition will run from 2 to 4 September. Inspired by the in-between moments where day turns to night, land meets sea, and the natural world blends with the built environment, The Edge of Light invites audiences into a richly atmospheric experience. The line-up includes some of Aotearoa's most inventive artists, including Angus Muir, Catherine Ellis, Matt Liggins, Simon Holden, Peter Hobbs, Luke Foley-Martin, and Sarah Jayne Kavali, each bringing their own perspective to the concept of transition — light shifts, space evolves and sound deepens from stillness to resonance. “This is where light becomes emotion and…

KEY TO THE mood is the intricate tiling that curves around its form, the decadent plastered arch above and the hand-applied plaster finish: a textural statement using ROCKCOTE Classico coloured plaster that lends both nuance and resilience. Designed to achieve a grained surface that is smooth to the touch, Classico is one of ROCKCOTE's most popular finishes. Here, it's been expertly hand applied to create a gentle circular pattern that feels almost meditative, a perfect pairing for the ritual of bathing outdoors. Embedded with fine marble and quartz fillers, this plaster finish captures light softly, offering a subtly tactile quality that shifts throughout the day. While often used across entire façades, Classico's versatility also lends itself beautifully to bespoke features like this one. Its robust, flexible formulation ensures it performs…

THE FAÇADE — clinker brick below and timber above — spoke clearly of the home's era. Inside, a partial renovation had nudged it towards the present, but the transformation felt unresolved. It was at this stage that Matter Architects was engaged to deliver the project's final phase — a thoughtful edit rather than a complete rewrite. Key to the brief: a defined sense of arrival, greater privacy, and a stronger relationship between house and landscape. The solution began with a new stand-alone structure housing a garage and pool house. Positioned along the northern boundary, this acts as a visual bookend — a deliberate delineation between public and private, and the starting point for a sequence of moments that now define this overtly contemporary family home. Clad in vertical timber, the…

“A LOT OF our concept designs are rich in ideas and detail, but, for various reasons, some of those sometimes get left behind,” says Prue Johnstone of Johnstone Callaghan Architects, synthesising that trope of projects in which budgetary constraints, unexpected remedial works, or conservative clients can sometimes squeeze the joie de vivre out of the project management spreadsheet. “However, with [these] clients, when we presented something, they would always say, ‘Yes, and what else can we do?’ They were equalling our appetite for challenging and pushing the boundaries of materials and craft.” This daring spirit is no coincidence: one of the owners is Clive Barrington, the renowned Cantabrian building contractor whose business slogan is: ‘The Architect's Builder’. “I'm just a carpenter, but building and architecture [are] my life,” Clive tells…

Bridges, a turret, round windows that pivot like portals to another realm — they're not typically found in suburban architecture. However, on a street in Point Chevalier, Tāmaki Makaurau, they're part of a family home designed as a playground for both children and adults. The house, created by Crosson Architects, is ambitious in its aesthetic but modest in its execution; a dwelling purpose built for a young family with a well-developed sense of whimsy. The clients wanted a house to replace the rundown 1980s dwelling on the site. It couldn't be too expensive, and they wanted something a little different from the vernacular of the villas and 1920s–1940s homes on their street. Oh, and they wanted a turret for their two boys, so that they could imagine themselves as medieval…

BORN IN NEW ZEALAND and now based between Brooklyn, New York, and Porirua, designer Richard Clarkson's practice occupies a space between art, science, and technology. His eponymous studio, established in 2014, is best known for its genredefying lighting pieces — sculptural works that channel meteorology, astrophysics, and emotion into objects that feel part magic, part machine. At the heart of the studio's practice is the flagship Clouds collection — an interactive light and speaker system that mimics the look and behaviour of a thundercloud. The studio has since expanded the concept into an entire family of products. The latest is the Cloudlet Mobile, a kinetic sculpture designed for smaller spaces. Suspended in a delicate, orbit-like configuration, the miniature cloud forms gently rotate. Elsewhere, the studio's work explores other atmospheric phenomena.…

VIVID EXPRESSION IS a charismatic design mood defined by sculptural form and sophisticated individuality. It's joyful, vibrant, a tad nostalgic, and utterly personal. Its palette is unapologetic: sunflower yellow, sun-warmed ochres, botanical greens, chartreuse and burnt orange, tempered by surfaces of texture and depth. Here, Feltex explores this aesthetic through a tightly curated material lens. The flooring is not a backdrop in this story — it's a protagonist in its own right. In one living space, autumn is distilled into tones of mustard, terracotta, and faded pink. A velvet cushion, sunburnt and tactile, rests on a vintage sofa; ceramics in earthen hues collect light on a camel-toned table. Sculptural elements — a bulbous floor lamp, a quilted chair — shift the room's mood from nostalgic to spirited. Underfoot, loop pile…

THERE'S A PSYCHOLOGICAL explanation for our obsession with a home with a view. The prospect-refuge theory posits that humans are happiest when they have an elevated spot to observe predators and a nearby place to hide. It's evolutionary, according to the theory created by Jay Appleton in 1975: we need to be able to scope out food supplies, see the wild animals coming our way, and have somewhere to take shelter so we don't get eaten. There aren't too many wild animals in the Queenstown suburb of Jack's Point, but the theory fits this house regardless. The views were a top priority for architectural designer Maja Marshall. “I made a big effort with the design for look-through views,” she explains. “You can stand in the courtyard and see all the…

CREATING A HOME for a family living overseas brings up some liaison logistics at the best of times. Throw in a pandemic, and you've got real communication issues. For architect Elǐska Lewis, who was commissioned to design a Wānaka dwelling for a New Zealander and a Dane living in Singapore, Zoom calls and sophisticated modelling software saved the day. “It forced us all to become savvy with our video conferencing!” says Elǐska of the process she and her clients went through in the period when they couldn't meet in person. “We got much more comfortable designing that way. We were able to screen share, fly around the 3D model I created, and test out different things virtually. All of the interior design was modelled, too. It really helped because there…

THERE IS A fleeting moment when a nesting tākapu — the Australiasian gannet that lends its te reo name to this project — senses a wind current and lifts its wings as if to savour its strength and direction. Its long, slender pinions with black tips expand, wobble, and adapt to the breeze. To any observer, there is an element of tension there, as it is unclear whether the bird will be lifted or stay put, and how that current might carry it past its habitat along the cliff's edge. It is that moment — that quick battle between gravity and lift-off — that architect Daniel Marshall wanted to encapsulate in the design of a home that sits just below the ridge on a cliff overlooking Ocean Beach in Hawke's…