Category Archives: Projects

Waitī House

Waitī House Ōākura In association with Thandi Jazmine Design. Photography by David Straight

Punakērua House

PUNAKĒRUA HOUSE Punakērua In association with Designgroup Stapleton Elliott, we conceived this home as a faceted geometric form responding to the undulations in its natural cliff-top context, and sensitively nestling within it. The design recognises the natural landscape by referring and deferring to it, maintaining the visual coherence of the landform. A strong connection with…

RESONANT HOUSE / Auckland

RESONANT HOUSE Auckland Watching the densification of Tāmaki Makaurau take hold over the last decade, an adventurous couple with a long history of living on this Parnell site decided to utilise their large property in a new way. In their retirement, they had an idea for a subdivided, but shared, property. They would have their…

LIGHT MINE / Kūaotunu

LIGHT MINE — NZIA National Awards / Winner 2021 — HOME Magazine / Home of the Year Winner 2020 — 2021 World Architecture Festival / Lisbon / Finalist — 2020 BEST Awards / Aotearoa / Silver Kuaotunu This house is an exploration of strong sculptural forms referencing the mine shafts of the long-abandoned gold mines…

KAWAU ISLAND HOUSE / Kawau Island

KAWAU ISLAND HOUSE – NZIA Local Award 2018 / Auckland — 2020 BEST Awards / Aotearoa / Bronze Kawau Island Designed to provide a restful escape from the busy city lives of the owners – a family with three young boys – the house needed to be modest, flexible and hard-wearing. Viewed notionally as a…

SHAPESHIFTER / Omaha

Omaha

An escape from a city apartment, the client was looking for a looser, more open space to spread out in a home well connected to the sun. A collector of sculpture and paintings, a sculptural home was the intent, providing an interesting and dynamic getaway, largely for a couple, but with the ability to expand, catering for gatherings of the extended family.  The house was to be made of materials appropriate to the marine environment, requiring minimal maintenance, with a simplicity and robustness.

Situated at the Northern tip of the Omaha Peninsula this house sits boldly on a flat site within its semi-suburban context and looks out towards an estuary to the west. A habitable sculpture with a dynamic roof, a chevron delineating interior circulation, stairs, and a future roof terrace accessed with a high-level ‘pop out’ exit. Deliberately, there is no garaging- cars are ok in the elements! The interior spills out onto the lawn, with positioning to accommodate a ‘tent city’ on the section

DNA HOUSE / Coromandel

DNA HOUSE — NZIA Local Award 2018 / Waikato Bay of Plenty — HOME Magazine / Home of the Year Finalist 2018 Coromandel Designed as a retreat, the DNA house is an exercise in contrast, delight, strength, and elevation. A series of bi-folding perforated metal screens surround the home, serving to filter light, and provide…

COROMANDEL BACH / Coromandel

COROMANDEL BACH — World Architecture News Finalist / Top 6 Houses worldwide 2006 — NZ Home & Entertaining / Home of the Decade Winner 1996 – 2005 — NZIA Award 2003 / Award for Architecture 2003 — Origin Timber Design Award / Architectural Excellence 2003 — NZ Home & Entertaining / Home of the Year…

POINT CHEVALIER HOUSE / Point Chevalier

POINT CHEVALIER HOUSE Point Chevalier

HUT ON SLEDS / Whangapoua

HUT ON SLEDS — NZIA New Zealand Award 2012/13 / National — NZ Wood Timber Design Award 2012 / Winner — Korean Institute of Architects Top 100 International Architects Award 2012 / Top 100 — Urbis (Australasia) Best Bathrooms 2012 / Winner — NZIA Award 2012 / Waikato Bay of Plenty — Architectural Review (London)…

RED HOUSE / Titirangi

RED HOUSE — German Design Award Winner 2018 — World Architecture Festival (Berlin) House of the Year / Shortlisted 2016 — Home Magazine Home of the Year Finalist 2015 — NZIA Local Award for Architecture 2015 — NZIA National Award for Architecture 2015 — AAA Cavalier Bremworth Unbuilt Architecture Award 2012 Titirangi The Red House is a…

Fe3O4 HOUSE / Taiharuru

Fe3O4 HOUSE – NZIA Local Award 2018 / Auckland Taiharuru A lifetime spent in the boat-building industry provided the inspiration for this project. The location at the margin of the bay and exposed to the elements – wind and ocean called for a rugged response. Just as early Polynesian explorers turned their sea-craft upside down…

MOERAKI HOUSE / Otago

MOERAKI HOUSE Otago Moeraki House sits atop a hill at a coastal location adjacent to the famed Moeraki Boulders. Conceived as a series of prefabricated pods utilising standard construction detailing, each pod is modified to reflect internal space. The long and narrow footprint of the house capitalises on the otherworldly North-eastern view to the ocean…

BACH BACH / Raglan

BACH BACH — NZIA Award 2016 / Waikato Bay of Plenty Raglan Classical musicians are trained in nuance – searching for colour and meaning in their musical tone and expression – as well as in the building blocks of rhythm, pitch and dynamics. This house for an opera singer and her husband takes elements of…

KUAOTUNU HOUSE / Coromandel 

KUAOTUNU HOUSE — NZIA Award 2008 / Award for Architecture 2008 Coromandel The intention was to renovate an existing holiday home for a family on a dramatic site in Kuaotunu. The 70s bach had served the family well for many years and was imbued with family memories. It was too valuable as a family artefact…

TE HINAKI / Warkworth

TE HINAKI Warkworth This project presented with an unusual site in an estuary context. Situated right on the harbour edge, the site borders an ancient Maori kai moana area which was reclaimed last century for farmland. The wetland origin of the site, which confers a unique environmental quality combined with uncertain ground conditions, became a…

TUTUKAKA HOUSE / Matapouri Beach

TUTUKAKA HOUSE — NZIA New Zealand Award 2011 / New Zealand — NZIA Award 2011 / Auckland Northland Matapouri Beach Designed as a refuge from the busy city lives of the owners, this house provides relaxed holiday living on the Tutukaka coast.  The plan is organised around a central spine, with spaces oriented to specific…

SENTINEL HOUSE / Coromandel

SENTINEL HOUSE Coromandel This home is for a couple and their young son in the Coromandel township. They are ceramic artists and have a familiarity and love of clay. Because of this it was appropriate to adopt bricks, that universal, cost-effective, human scaled building material for their modest new home. The formal inspiration for this…

OMAHA BEACH HOUSE / Omaha

OMAHA BEACH HOUSE Omaha A series of pavilions, enclosed space, outdoor rooms and transitional spaces linked with a covered boardwalk. The boardwalk has a slatted timber rood with glazing above, giving a dappled light condition through the length of the house. The forms to the beach front are long and low, and broken through the…

WHANGAPOUA BEACH HOUSE / Coromandel

WHANGAPOUA BEACH HOUSE — Trans Tasman Timber Design Awards 2011 / 1 of 4 Finalists — NZIA Award 2010 / Award for Architecture 2010 — NZ Wood / Award for Residential Architectural Excellence 2010 Coromandel Casually laid-back yet highly refined, this small-scale holiday home is oriented north-east towards the ocean, sun and distant islands. An…

EAGLES NEST / Bay of Islands

EAGLES NEST Bay of Islands The brief called for a spiritual refuge for the owners of the house and their guests.  The dramatic isolation of the site afforded unrestricted openness in design, allowing a seamless connection with the exterior, taking up 360° views of the landscape. The temple like pavilion sits long and low on…

QUEENSTOWN HOUSE / Queenstown

QUEENSTOWN HOUSE Queenstown This rural Queenstown project was a dramatic reimagining of an existing home. The building was almost completely refinished, with the addition of a new living wing and an extended bedroom wing, both of which respond to the existing building form. The house is rural in nature, with crisp metal pitched roofs and…

HERNE BAY HOUSE 2 / Auckland

HERNE BAY HOUSE 2 Photography by Patrick Reynolds

MATAKANA HOUSE / Matakana

MATAKANA HOUSE Matakana The brief was for a house following sustainable design principles, and reflecting rural, shed-like forms that would sit comfortably on a bush-clad site. The building sits long and low across a ridge, at once anchored to the site and floating above the extensive nature bush. A materials palette of rustic steel cladding, Corten…

KAIPARA HOUSE / Kaipara

KAIPARA HOUSE — NZIA Award 2008 / Award for Architecture 2008 Kaipara The clients, a courageous couple in their late 70s, initially wanted a modest house that would “look like a Lockwood”. This concept evolved over time to produce a home that was much more responsive to the rugged west coast site and could be…

WAIMARAMA HOUSE / Hawkes Bay

WAIMARAMA HOUSE Hawkes Bay A small, cost effective three bedroom house situated above the Waimarama Beach settlement in Hawkes Bay.  The 130sqm holiday home was designed for an interesting American couple, he a retired minister of the ‘cloth’ and she an equestrian Olympian. The brief was to create a home that would be an amalgam…

ONEHUNGA HOUSE / Auckland

ONEHUNGA HOUSE Auckland

NOHOROA HOUSE / Kapiti Coast

NOHOROA HOUSE — NZIA Award 2016 / Wellington Kapiti Coast Nohoroa is the name of the family farm where one of our clients spent their childhood and is reused in this project to reflect that continuity with their past and hopes for the future. The brief was for an easy, nurturing and memorable family home…

ONEHUNGA HOUSE 2 / Auckland

ONEHUNGA HOUSE 2 Auckland

WINE HOUSE / Orewa

WINE HOUSE Orewa

ORAKEI BASIN HOUSE 3 / Auckland

ORAKEI BASIN HOUSE 3 Auckland A new family home on Auckland’s Orakei Basin. The design references the site which is located on a sensitive volcanic crater rim. A sculptural folded roof form lifts to embrace the view and the sky. Basalt cladding is offset against a soft green-wall wrapped concrete perimeter.

ONION BOX / Bombay

ONION BOX Bombay

ST HELIERS BAY HOUSE / Auckland

ST HELIERS BAY HOUSE Auckland The house is set on a gently sloping site that is surrounded by existing houses to the east, west and south. The elevated site provides sweeping northern views over St Heliers to the Waitemata harbour beyond.  The form of the building was generated to fully exploit the site’s slope and…

ORAKEI BASIN HOUSE / Auckland

ORAKEI BASIN HOUSE Auckland Built on a steep site of 860 square metres on the edge of the Orakei Basin, the house is zoned horizontally to maximise connections to the site, with horizontal terracing to provide some flat outside living areas. On the top level are entry, garage, study and main bedroom with ensuite. Below…

COOKS BEACH HOUSE / Coromandel

COOKS BEACH HOUSE Coromandel In 1769 Captain Cook observed the transit of Mercury at Cooks Beach, just below the site of this project. In homage to Cook, the shape and form of this house was mapped out to the layout of the stars as he would have observed them in the night sky. Conceptually the…

OPITO BAY HOUSE / Opito Bay

OPITO BAY HOUSE Opito Bay A carefully crafted response to a challenging site, the Opito Beach house makes the most of it’s dramatic coastal position. A butterfly roof extends skyward atop three irregular box forms, which recess into the hillside, reducing the apparent bulk of the building. ‘Off the boards’ precast concrete panels with black…

VULAVULA HOUSE / Fiji

VULAVULA HOUSE Fiji This island retreat is designed to provide a range of holiday experiences. It is a contemporary reinterpretation of the traditional Fijian bure, formed as a series of linked pavilions with large hipped roofs to create generous volumes within. Wide open-air loggias link the living and bedroom pavilions, providing a shaded transition space…

KERIKERI HOUSE / Bay of Islands

KERIKERI HOUSE Bay of Islands