Homes Archives

Books: The easy green checklist

Writer Claire McCall’s new book, Green Modern: Eco-Conscious Contemporary New Zealand Homes, celebrates contemporary architecture with a green edge. Here, she shares images of some of the book’s stunning homes, talks about New Zealand’s progress in creating green buildings, and offers an easy checklist to use before you embark on a building project. HOME Your book is about contemporary eco-friendly architecture. Did you find that the bach in the original sense – the small,

Light and clarity on a precipitous Wellington site

Light and clarity on a precipitous Wellington site You’re looking for a site to build a house on. You have a blended family of six children, ranging in age from under five to 25, so you would, quite understandably, like a generous amount of space. With this requirement in mind, a steep hill may not be the first place you’d look. This potential inconvenience, however, didn’t discourage David Goddard and Liesle Theron from eyeing a

Kitchens: 4 ingenious spaces where cooking rules

For chefs Natalia Schamroth and Carl Koppenhagen, their new kitchen is the culmination of four years spent “desperate” to get out of the cramped, closed-off kitchen at the back of their house.

Spend a beach holiday at this dream Coromandel bach

Spend a beach holiday at this dream Coromandel bach Most people design holiday houses as places to get away from it all, but David Berridge designed his as somewhere to come back to. He grew up in Auckland but has spent most of his adult life in New York. The holiday home he’s designed at Otama on the Coromandel Peninsula is his means of retaining a strong connection to the country of his birth. Berridge came

Light and air in the treetops

An unstable foundation meant the original 1930s home on this section had to be demolished, which helped make way for a clean-design-slate. Light and air in the treetops Most people think of blissful simplicity as the greatest springboard for creativity – a blank slate from which the mind can soar. But the best architecture can thrive on constraints and complexity, and often flounders without them. Just as well that the Sydney-based husband-and-wife architectural duo, Chris

An architect and interior designer’s surprising shipping container getaway

An architect and interior designer’s surprising shipping container getaway When it comes to designing their own homes, my parents are far from traditional. My father Greg Noble is a New Zealander who trained as an architect in Scotland and my mother Georgie Noble is an interior designer. I grew up in the UK and when we left London for Shropshire, it was to a derelict stone house with no windows and no doors. We slept on

This pool over looking the Kaipara Harbour is the epitome of summer style

From the pool and its simple, charming pavilion, the owners can take in sweeping views of the Kaipara Harbour and the surrounding countryside This pool over looking the Kaipara Harbour is the epitome of summer style What constitutes the bare essentials of summer? It’s a question Lance and Nicola Herbst of Herbst Architects have been contemplating ever since they arrived in New Zealand from South Africa 15 years ago. They have designed everything from ethereal,

New York artist Anthony Goicolea’s new home fuels his art

When Anthony Goicolea – a Cuban-American artist with strong ties to New Zealand – embarked on building his house in Williamsburg, New York, he naively thought it would be a straightforward process. Three years and a lot more money than he wanted to spend later, he’s settled into his combined home and studio which, despite the turmoil of the building process, feels just as tranquil as he intended it to. “I’ve always had this

Small changes yield big results for this petite cottage

Architect Pam Ingram collaborated with graphic designer Peter Roband to renovate the Arch Hill apartment he shares with his partner Lindsay Spedding. The apartment now has a completely fresh feel without any changes to the existing footprint. “He could visualise what I was talking about,” says Ingram, “and he wanted something that was well-designed. We both speak the same language. We both believe in good design.” Sometimes small change can yield big results. Case in

A Waiheke beach house in a tranquil bay

A Waiheke beach house in a tranquil bay Waiheke Island’s eastern coast is a different country from the western end’s rolling slopes and gentle white-sand beaches. Here, metal roads scramble up and down steep hills, while rock outcrops and gun emplacements look out to sea. It’s also rich in history: Cook sailed past Waikopua Bay (the location of this house by Daniel Marshall) and into the bay next door, the closest he ever got to

The unique footprint of this Auckland home pushes architectural boundaries

This home on Auckland’s North Shore is three levels of unapologetically bold architecture. Love it or hate it, it’s built to make a statement The unique footprint of this Auckland home pushes architectural boundaries Let’s be clear about this: David Mitchell doesn’t care if you like his house or not. It’s a structure he designed with his partner Julie Stout that makes passersby stop, stare and often argue. It looms over a prominent corner near

One long, lean house and an unforgettable view

One long, lean house and an unforgettable view The image above is such a showstopper it requires an explanation. First, the location: a peninsula north of Tauranga that the owners, Philip and Celia Crawshaw, purchased after conducting detailed analysis of rainfall, wind and sunshine hours all over New Zealand in order to find the best place to live, climatically speaking (they are New Zealanders who formerly lived in Palmerston North). They then interviewed a few

The Carnachan house in Queenstown is a gentle antidote to minimalism

After living by a strict minimalist approach in Auckland, this Gibbston Valley home came as welcome relief, allowing this family live comfortably The Carnachan house in Queenstown is a gentle antidote to minimalism Simon Carnachan wanted his house near Queenstown to be comfortable. This was not a goal he arrived at lazily but a lesson he learned the hard, minimalist way in his Auckland home, a cottage for which, in the early 2000s, he had

This home hugs the landscape and takes its design cues from local birdlife

This home hugs the landscape and takes its design cues from local birdlife The Waimea Inlet is a twitcher’s paradise. Sheltered by the low form of Rabbit Island at the head of Tasman Bay, the estuary is a site for several migratory, endangered and threatened bird species. The godwit breaks its flight here, among white herons, spoonbills, Caspian terns and bitterns. There are oystercatchers, too, less exotic but no less beautiful. It was the wader

Kitchens: an easy-living holiday kitchen with room to spare

The generous proportions of this holiday home kitchen allow it to comfortably cater for four generations. It was designed by Morgan Cronin, who explains that the clients wanted something roomy and low-maintenance. Here, Cronin describes the project and how he selected his materials to fit the brief and the overall architectural features of the home. HOME Where is this kitchen and what were you asked to design? Morgan Cronin, Cronin Kitchens It’s at Omaha. I

A former dental clinic is reincarnated lakeside

A former Auckland dental clinic is comfortable in its new location and second life as an uncomplicated bach A former dental clinic is reincarnated lakeside After purchasing a small plot of land on the western shores of Lake Taupo, Rick Pearson and Briar Green spent a long time doing what architects tend to do with their own projects: they struggled to get anything off the drawing boards. Then, after many discarded designs, a trawl through

Bathrooms: a vineyard view from Cloudy Bay’s guest quarters

This Marlborough bathroom makes the most of the view from Cloudy Bay vineyard’s guest quarters; it also takes care to emphasise the landscape, which, in addition to being beautifully serene, is intrinsic to the vineyard’s brand and wine label. The colour palette and textures used in each of the four guest suites reflects a unique element of the surroundings: Cloud, Mountain, River and Cape. HOME You had a clear aim to connect the building as a whole with the

Kitchens: 3D technology for perfect angles

The clients of this Ponsonby renovation didn’t want a typical villa kitchen. Designer Serban Teodorescu of T Plus Architects transformed the space into a ‘day zone’ encompassing living, entertaining and food preparation areas. HOME This kitchen design was part of a significant villa renovation. What were your objectives with this main living space, and making the kitchen such an integral part of it? Serban Teodorescu An important part of the brief was the creation of

A blissfully unaltered 1958 home by Cedric Firth

A blissfully unaltered 1958 home by Cedric Firth Our family has lived in our home in Ngaio, Wellington, for four years. My partner, Sharon Jansen, and I are both architects, so choosing to live in another architect’s conception was an intriguing proposition. The house was designed for Ian and Gladys McKenzie in 1958 by Cedric Firth (when he was in partnership with Ernst Plischke). We were attracted to its intelligent, beautiful and rigorous design, and

Bathrooms: a compact Arrowtown space is big in character

Architects Pete Ritchie and Bronwen Kerr of Kerr Ritchie Architects lined up all the utility spaces in this small Arrowtown home along its southern wall, off a long corridor stepping down a slope. The owners of the home, a finalist in our 2010 Home of the Year award, had specified that they wanted it to be relatively small, which meant that the bathroom, like every part of the home, was designed with economy

Celebrating a 60-year-old stunner by Peter Middleton

In 1954, Heather Lomas worked with Peter Middleton on the design of her family home in Hamilton, as elegant today as it was when built. Back in the 1950s, Hamilton was hip and hopping. It had enough ballast for city status by the end of the war in 1945, but the population soon trebled, propelling it to become New Zealand’s fourth largest centre by 1966. Burgeoning construction companies FT Hawkins and Brian Perry, as

A bold, angular home in Mount Maunganui by Daniel Marshall

Like their counterparts in suburbs around the country, the homes in Mount Maunganui tend to follow accepted norms. That is, until you turn down the driveway of Glenn and Karen Keaney, where you find something rather less predictable: a home full of assertive, elbow-like angles that, from the outside, looks more like a scientific diagram than a traditional family home. Auckland architect Daniel Marshall designed the four-bedroom, 300-square-metre home for Glenn and Karen and

Kitchens: a small space becomes two separate zones

For this Freemans Bay renovation, options for the new kitchen layout were hampered by existing concrete block walls; architect Belinda George’s solution to this challenge was inspired. To give the clients the large, modern kitchen that they required, they divided it in two: an open preparation area in front and a hidden scullery tucked away behind it. Kitchens: a small space becomes two separate zones HOME What was the original kitchen like, and what were the

A holiday home and private escape on Waiheke Island

A holiday home and private escape on Waiheke Island Passersby can be forgiven for not realising this Waiheke Island house by architect Andre Hodgskin even exists, because it is invisible from the road. Screened by thick native planting and with a circuitous approach down a rutted gravel driveway, the first thing you see is a rock retaining wall which leads you around the corner to the house: two boxes perpendicular to each other sited around

Bathrooms: Classic meets contemporary

The client brief for this Wellington cottage was to create a “workable bathroom” in the confined space. To overcome this challenge, William Giesen of Atelierworkshop explains how they introduced natural light to open up the room. Giesen also tells how they decided on their colour palette and his views about good bathroom design. HOME What was your brief for this space? William Giesen, Atelierworkshop To add a proper-sized bathroom to the cottage, as well

A gallery director and art collector’s 1950s LA home

This art collector created his own display space in a 1950s Los Angeles apartment designed by the pioneering modernist designer A. Quincy Jones A gallery director and art collector’s 1950s LA home There are a few lofty rumours circulating about Brian and Kate Butler’s address in Brentwood, Los Angeles. One is that the clean-lined 1950s apartment building, crouched beneath palms in an area better known for its stately family homes, was designed by A. Quincy

This seaside home has a heart of steel

Although this beachside kitchen has floor-to-ceiling sliding doors, the cantilevered upper level of the house stops it from feeling too exposed. Here, designer Nick Strachan of Athfield Architects explains how they unified the kitchen space and what motivated the decision to use rubber flooring. HOME How did you choose the location for the kitchen in this beachside home? Nick Strachan, Athfield Architects The client was always interested in having the kitchen near the beach

A warm, thrifty and inventive Waiheke Island home

This Waiheke house may look like a cold, metal box but inside it’s offset by a warm, wooden interior that garners inspiration from traditional villas A warm, thrifty and inventive Waiheke Island home The Beniston family home on Waiheke Island has no obvious street number. I’d been told to simply ask the taxi driver to take me to the “long metal house” at the bottom of Ostend Road. On approach, there’s no mistaking it. From

Fashion designer Emily Cooper’s 1959 Dunedin pad

Sam and Emily fell easily for the charms of this 1959 modernist home, which has remained virtually unchanged since it was built Fashion designer Emily Cooper’s 1959 Dunedin pad By the late 1950s, the idea of living in a modernist way was sweeping the globe. The associated ideas of mass production meant it was possible to buy plans in almost the same way you would purchase a pattern for a dress. This is probably the way

Bathrooms: a perfectly partitioned ensuite

Rare in New York apartments, this home has a large ensuite bathroom that feels both spacious and private. Here, New York artist Anthony Goicolea tells why this bathroom designed by Janet Cross is so successful. HOME A big bathroom was part of your brief for the house. Why so? Anthony Goicolea I love the bathroom. It’s the only room in the house where you can shut the door and people respect your privacy. I feel I

Kitchens: a century-old building meets modernity

The brief Richard Naish received for this Stable Lane kitchen was for a large, sociable family kitchen that, while modern, still fit the century-old building. A challenge was the low stud height, which was resolved with cleverly created storage space. Kitchens: a century-old building meets modernity HOME This was part of a redevelopment of a century-old building. How difficult was it to carve out space for a contemporary kitchen? Richard Naish, RTA Studio The existing building

Bathrooms: resplendent in black marble

This Devonport home by Bull O’Sullivan Architecture is dominated by timber. The clients’ brief for the bathroom was to create a luxurious escape from the rest of the house. Dark marble provides an enlivening contrast. HOME The rest of the home’s interior is clad in timber – why did you choose marble for the bathroom? Michael O’Sullivan, Bull O’Sullivan Architecture The ensuite is a masculine contrast to the sensuality and intimacy of the timber-lined

How a gentle renovation created a Nelson family home

Designed by acclaimed modernist architect Alex Bowman, this Nelson home was transformed to fit its new family while staying true to the original aesthetic How a gentle renovation created a Nelson family home There’s a side to architect Jeremy Smith that enjoys sowing confusion. How else to explain his delight when passersby stop in surprise outside his family home? This example of 1960s modernism, set on a plinth above a quiet Nelson street, has been transformed

Bathrooms: Pattersons’ moody palette

Careful lighting and a darker palette create moody intimacy in this bathroom by Pattersons. Davor Popadich explains how they achieved the intimate quality without sacrificing function and utility. HOME What made you choose a dark material palette for this bathroom area? Davor Popadich, Pattersons We wanted the space to feel intimate. Bathing being such a personal and intimate activity we wanted to scale the space down by using darker tiles and soft, filtered light. HOME How did

Kitchens: 1930s glamour meets family practicality

Kitchen designer Morgan Cronin has packed an extraordinary amount of living space into a long, narrow room in his 1930s home. “As a family we spend all our time in here,” Cronin says. “Cooking, dining, entertaining, the kids even do their homework here.” The living and kitchen spaces are linked by an over-cupboard almost nine metres long, but the kitchen is the undisputed star of the show. Cronin’s design concept was ‘Art Deco

Kitchens: a Mount Maunganui kitchen with a hidden scullery

The biggest design challenge for this former holiday home was to create a kitchen space that would accommodate friends and family preparing food together, without crowding the space. Evan Mayo of Architecture Bureau describes the decision to incorporate a scullery hidden behind folding doors. HOME Most sculleries are dark, tucked-away spaces. What made you want to incorporate one in this kitchen, and how successful has it been? Evan Mayo, Architecture Bureau At a holiday home you often

Kitchens: this coastal kitchen blends into its landscape

The kitchen of this hilltop home in Muriwai is visible from afar, and designer Bruce Messick of Avantgarde wanted to ensure it blended seamlessly into its landscape. The colour palette was carefully chosen with this in mind and a minimalist style favoured for the cabinetry and benchtops. HOME How did you choose the material palette for this kitchen? Bruce Messick, Avantgarde Because the house is atop a ridge, with large glass surfaces and visible from

Bathrooms: beach-house simplicity on Waiheke Island

The bathroom in this Waiheke Island beach house offers lessons in simplicity. Here, Julian Guthrie explains how careful planning and selection of materials can produce a beautiful result, without blowing the budget. HOME This is a bathroom in a beach house. Were you consciously trying to make it different to something you might design in a city home? Julian Guthrie, Godward Guthrie Architects This bathroom was decidedly a bach approach. It is entered via an

Kitchens: an elegantly crafted Auckland design

Taking cues from famous houses, Michael O’Sullivan confidently combined materials to create this luxurious, well-crafted North Shore kitchen. Here, O’Sullivan discusses the similarities to his own kitchen and how this contributed to the less traditional design decisions. HOME How did you choose the materials for this space and know they would work together – the timber ceiling, the onyx island, the brick floor, the glass cabinetry? Michael O’Sullivan, Bull O’Sullivan Architecture The timber ceiling and

Bathrooms: a Sydney bathroom with personality

A careful insertion of colour enlivens this Sydney bathroom by Pohio Adams Architects. The design also takes full advantage of the natural light offered, complemented by concealed and featured electric lighting. HOME All-white bathrooms seem to be a common default mode, so how did you break out of it? Chris Adams, Pohio Adams Architects Decisions driving the house design were about reflecting the clients’ personalities and an exploration of materials and how they would

Kitchens: a holiday home built for entertaining

The brief for this Whangarei Heads kitchen was to meld the indoor and outdoor spaces. Lance Herbst of Herbst Architects created two covered decks, offering flexible protection against the elements. The successful design allowed the clients to entertain 36 guests during the holiday season. HOME How did you achieve the openness of this kitchen? Lance Herbst, Herbst Architects The kitchen is the pivotal point around which two covered decks rotate, positioned at the opposite side to the two

A private space with hidden surprises

The brief for the kitchen in this Waiheke Island home was separation and a unique sense of character for each space in the house. Architect Wendy Shacklock divided the dining and kitchen spaces with cabinetry; below she tells how this private realm allows for flexible entertaining. HOME In this house you subtly separated the kitchen from the living areas. Are you not a fan of open-plan? Wendy Shacklock The dining and kitchen spaces are

Bathrooms: a shell-like space in Home of the Year 2013

This open-plan bathroom in the 2013 Home of the Year is a continuation of the fluid, shell-like overall design. Architect Gary Lawson describes how the bathroom can be both open and intimate. HOME This space is in the Home of the Year 2013. How does it relate to the home overall? Gary Lawson, Stevens Lawson Architects The concept for the house was one of organic, shell-like forms connected by a fluid open-plan space. The bathroom

This small home is enormously clever

It is often said that constraints are a vital part of creating good architecture – that without any limitations to frame a project, an architect’s task is akin to finding direction in a void This small home is enormously clever But when a building project is already up against the odds, it is surely insane to add another layer of complication. And yet, confronted by a tight budget and a steep, scrub-covered Wellington site that

Bathrooms: Deco-flavoured delight

When Maggie Carroll of Auckland’s Bureaux Architects decided to renovate the bathroom in her own apartment, she decided that the small space didn’t mean she had to compromise on style. She developed a palette of materials that refers to her apartment building’s Art Deco heritage, but that also have a fresh modernity to them. Here, she tells how she managed to bring elegance and a sense of spaciousness to a once-neglected room. HOME What

Artist Fiona Connor’s fantastic LA digs

The stripped-back living quarters of LA-based artist Fiona Connor allows her space to create Fiona Connor toys with architecture in her work, planting structural dopplegangers in gallery spaces that playfully prompt viewers to reconsider their physical surroundings. The artist rebuilt the frontage of Michael Lett’s former gallery space in Auckland’s Karangahape Road 15 times over for her celebrated work, the Walters Prize-nominated ‘Something Transparent (Please Go Round the Back)’. That was 2009, the same

Kitchens: a sleek Christchurch renovation

When Christchurch architect Duval O’Neill of Herriot + Melhuish was asked to renovate a modernist 1960s home originally designed by Ernest A. Kalnins, one of the main problem areas was the kitchen, which was small and cramped and didn’t connect to the home’s living and dining spaces. Here, O’Neill tells how he went about changing the space while keeping a connection with the home’s mid-century origins. HOME You were working in a mid-century house

Bathrooms: a Wellington bathroom with an ocean view

A Wellington bathroom by Parsonson Architects takes its cues from an amazing view. The palette of the sea and bush is brought inside by the blue and green tiles. Here, Sam Donald explains what they were trying to achieve with the design. HOME What were you aiming to achieve with this bathroom, and how did you go about doing so with your design? Sam Donald, Parsonson Architects The aim was to create a comfortable and

Clever design helps to keep this exposed bathroom completely private

The clients for this coastal Narrow Neck home wanted their bathroom to take full advantage of the views of Rangitoto Clever design helps to keep this exposed bathroom completely private This outdoor bathroom overlooks the ocean and Rangitoto Island and although the balcony is exposed to the wide blue yonder it remains completely private. Here, Sue Hillery discusses the surprising challenge of supporting a bath on a cantilevered balcony. This bathroom overlooks the ocean. What were the challenges

A classic white with kitchen with Arts and Crafts features

This kitchen renovation by Neil McLachlan of Neil McLachlan Design aimed to modernise the functionality of the space, and also bring it into alignment with the Arts and Crafts details of the rest of the house. Below, McLachlan explains how they opened up the design to better suit a modern family, while retaining a classic look. HOME What was your brief for this space, and how did you go about fulfilling it? Neil McLachlan, Neil McLachlan Design

Kitchens: Lovell O’Connell melds openness and intimacy

Ana O’Connell of Lovell O’Connell Architects believes a good kitchen should reflect the food culture of the people who will use it. This Wanaka kitchen acts as a command station for a client who loves to cook and entertain. Here, O’Connell tells how they created a kitchen that occupies its own zone but remains open and ergonomic for socialising. HOME This kitchen is part of a living and dining area, but it clearly occupies its own