This house near Christchurch’s Hagley Park was designed by repatriated architectural designer Case Ornsby as his own family home.
The form seeks to bridge the commercial and the residential aesthetics that surround it and, as such, uses a mixture of soft and industrial materials. Brick with subtle pink and brown shades, split stone imported from Greece and interior concrete floors for the industrial touch.
The latter was finished in PeterFell’s C2 Polished Concrete System, a series of penetrating surface hardeners that seal the concrete — bringing out all the material’s natural beauty whilst being more durable.
“They are not like the old, polyurethane days, where they would eventually wear down on the heavy traffic areas,” says Paul Dwight, Regional Manager for PeterFell.
“This is a very fine layer, and it is tough to scratch. It literally gets melded into the surface of the concrete by the polishing machine, and then all you do, in the future, is cleaning and maintenance”.
Another plus to the C2 Polished Concrete System is that it can work on multiple concrete finishes, depending on the design intent. “There are generally three finishes involved in grinding,” says Paul.
“There is what we call a fully exposed ground floor, a medium stone exposure which is sometimes referred to as a Salt and Pepper finish and polished concrete”.
Technically, the C2 process will seal different levels of stone exposure, giving the floors anything from a pebbled look to what is used in this house.
This Christchurch home sees a burnished concrete with only a very light polished grind to leave its upper layer intact.
“This light polish highlights the natural patina of the concrete surface,” says Paul.
