Homes Archives

A multi-functional Nelson building by Tennent Brown Archictects

Depending on the owners’ needs, this flexible space provides an intriguing retreat for guests, as well as executive meetings Torea Studio, Nelson Architects: Tennent Brown Architects Floor area: 97m2 It is not technically a home but it sometimes functions as one. In fact, this 97-square-metre, three-bedroom building near Nelson by Hugh Tennent and Brenda Solon of Tennent Brown Architects, is deliberately multi-functional: it’s a workspace, a meeting room, a guesthouse, an executive retreat. Its owners (who first

Density done well: Wellington’s visionary Centennial flats

A visionary mid-century social housing project in Wellington stays relevant Centennial Flats Year: 1940 Location: Wellington Architect: Gordon Wilson Everything happens in cycles. Wellington’s Centennial Flats – designed by Ministry of Works architects under Gordon Wilson, and completed in 1940 – were the first block of multi-unit flats designed under the Labour government’s state housing scheme. “The housing problem is of such magnitude,” said a report in the Evening Post in 1938, discussing plans for the

A trio of apartments perched atop a 1906 Wellington warehouse

Wellington’s best apartments are stacked over three levels on top of an existing three-storey building; another example of density done well Wakefield Apartments Project Year: 2001 Location: Wellington Architects: Chris Kelly and James Fenton, Architecture Workshop Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, rooftops all over New Zealand were brutalised, as developers who realised a solid structure could hold a few more floors piled them on as cheaply as they could possibly manage. The former BNZ building (now a

Density done well: Wellington’s Wakefield apartments

In Wellington, a set of three intricately planned apartments that sit atop a hefty 1900s warehouse provide the ultimate example of density done well Wakefield Apartments project Year: 2001 Location: Wellington Architects: Chris Kelly and James Fenton, Architecture Workshop Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, rooftops all over New Zealand were brutalised, as developers who realised a solid structure could hold a few more floors piled them on as cheaply as they could possibly manage. The former BNZ

A 5mx5m Christchurch tower that wouldn’t be out of place in Japan

This unusual home and office in a conservative Christchurch neighbourhood pushes the design boundaries When a tall, thin, aluminium-clad tower rose between Christchurch’s Merivale post office and a supermarket, the locals were quietly astonished. It was built on the tiny five-metre by five-metre site of a former toilet block and its only windows faced south. It defied almost every expectation of what a New Zealand house should look like. Best of all, the supermarket sign metres

A tall, thin tower home in Christchurch poses a design challenge

This tiny tower was designed as a challenge: a chance to consider new forms of accommodation and new typologies within one of the most conservative inner-city suburbs of Christchurch Q&A with Thom Craig of Thom Craig Architects What has changed in building terms since the Christchurch earthquakes? The ground beneath our buildings is now of paramount importance. Prior to the earthquakes, this building would probably have sat on a thick, reinforced concrete pad but now,

These Freeman’s Bay townhouses are an example of density done well

A group of 1970s townhouses in Freeman’s Bay, Auckland, offer lessons in smart planning that most cities still seem to ignore These Freeman’s Bay townhouses are an example of density done well Year 1970s Location Auckland Architect Angus, Flood and Griffiths When the firm Angus, Flood and Griffiths designed this townhouse and its many neighbours in the early 1970s, with an elevated balcony looking out to the street, they probably didn’t imagine that the view would one day

A contemporary kitchen that’s comfortable and hardworking

A kitchen by IMO does heavy duty daily for an Auckland family Designer: IMO, in a home by Paterson Architecture Collective and Glamuzina Architects. Brief: For a family kitchen in a new home that opens easily to the outdoors. Q&A with owner Michelle Dowd What was the starting point for your kitchen’s overall aesthetic? We wanted the design to be sympathetic with the overall design of the house – functional, clean lines and a comfortable, hardworking kitchen. We walked

The brief for this ensuite was for an industrial edge

A generous ensuite with an industrial edge was the brief for this inner-city Auckland home, a finalist in 2016’s Home of the Year Awards Architects: Andrea Bell and Andrew Kissell. Brief: To create an ensuite in keeping with the home’s industrial aesthetic. Q&A with architect Andrea Bell How difficult was it to achieve the melding of industrial-warehouse materiality? It was incredibly easy and something that really interests us – transforming a raw, rough industrial space into something

What looks like a simple kitchen design is anything but

A finalist in the Home of the Year 2016, this Auckland home makes kitchen design look simple. Architect Anthony Hoete explains the project… Architect: Anthony Hoete, WHAT_architecture Brief: London-based architect Anthony Hoete designed this home for his friends, engineers Michael Pervan and Amy Oding. Q&A with architect Anthony Hoete A finalist in the Home of the Year 2016, this home has a carefully calculated asymmetry. How does the kitchen fit in with that? The ‘Villameter’ is an

Industrial kitchen style: Q&A with architects Andrea Bell and Andrew Kissell

An industrial-style kitchen fits right into this Auckland home designed by Andrea Bell and Andrew Kissell Architect: Andrea Bell and Andrew Kissell. Brief: A simple and robust kitchen in keeping with the industrial feel of the house. Q&A with architect Andrea Bell How did you choose the material palette? We wanted an industrial feel, so the benchtops are 6mm-thick mild steel. The cabinetry against the concrete wall is Trans-Tex, which is used on truck decks. It’s a rich,

Architect Henri Sayes discusses kitchen style on a budget

Although petite, this Auckland kitchen doesn’t scrimp on style. Architect Henri Sayes of Sayes Studio discusses how good kitchens don’t have to be large Architect Henri Sayes discusses kitchen style on a budget Architects: Sayes Studio. Brief: To maximise space within the 116-square-metre home. You designed this kitchen in your own compact home with an equally compact budget. How did you make it as good as you could? It’s a fallacy that a good kitchen has to

A special 1960s Sydney home with a Hollywood Hills vibe

New Zealanders Neha Belton and Tulia Wilson bring fresh new focus to their modernist Sydney pad [jwp-video n=”1″] When Neha Belton and Tulia Wilson found the house they wanted to buy in Woollahra, Sydney, after 18 months of searching, they had just discovered Tulia was pregnant with their second child. Having already looked at hundreds of beautiful yet predictable Victorian terrace houses, it was something of a surprise that the property they ended up

A modernist Sydney pad is reinvented by a young Kiwi couple

A young Sydney-based Kiwi family transformed the “worst house on the best street” in Sydney’s Woollahra into a stunning example of modern design [jwp-video n=”1″] Q & A with homeowner Tulia Wilson, designer and consultant Do you know who designed the home? We don’t – I searched plans and council archives but to no avail. We know it was built in 1965 and that this part of the street was opened up to The Sydney

This modern cottage in the Wakatipu Basin is the ideal rural retreat

A rural retreat in the Wakatipu Basin by Bureaux combines modernity with rusticity Design notebook, Q&A with architects Jessica Barter and Maggie Carroll This is the first project by your firm, Bureaux, that’s been published in HOME. How would you describe your approach? Jessica Barter We’re a six-year-old boutique firm that offers a complete service – we’re architects who can design a building and follow that through to interiors and furnishings, right down to linen

Wellington architect Jon Craig’s own home design becomes his lasting legacy

Wellington architect Jon Craig created his last home in a street dotted with his earlier designs, and infused it with a spirit of optimism for the years ahead. If only he could have enjoyed it for longer [jwp-video n=”1″] The curlicue tendrils of the creeper that edges up the perimeter wall of the last home Jon Craig designed soften the raw heft of the concrete block. To humanise the strong architectural idea was one of

Inside Julian Dashper’s fascinating Auckland studio

The late Julian Dashper’s fascinating Auckland studio, with its neat arrangements of art and ephemera, remains just as he left it when he died in 2009. Story Words by Mark Kirby I was moved when I first saw these photographs of my friend Julian Dashper’s suburban west Auckland studio. Julian, an acclaimed artist, died in 2009, but his partner, Marie Shannon, has changed little about the studio since. The immaculate arrangements of objects on tables are

Has rural New Zealand living ever looked this good?

A hilltop home by Fearon Hay in rural west Auckland balances heft and finesse [jwp-video n=”1″] In the rolling green foothills of the Waitakere ranges, where west Auckland’s suburbs transition into rainforest, is a new homestead by Fearon Hay Architects. It’s a large, rural home, combining luxurious texture and rugged utility, rustic comfort and subtle precision; where a young family grows their own vegetables, makes their own wine, and raises and slaughters their own livestock.

Designing a new life in Arrowtown

Built in an old orchard in Arrowtown, this family home of sharp angles and galvanised steel isn’t afraid to stand out from the crowd [jwp-video n=”1″] Q&A with architect Michael O’Sullivan of Bull O’Sullivan Architects Your first duty was to help your clients and friends, Tim and Ingrid, choose a site. Why this one? This was an old orchard for the township. I thought it was delightful. It had a lovely sense of composure, a lovely

A guest cottage nestled into the Remarkables range

Sydney-based architect Domenic Alvaro usually designs multi-storey apartment buildings in Sydney. But the techniques he’s applied in this small building can be easily adapted in those projects “The cost of apartments is getting higher so there’s pressure to keep affordable product on the market,” says Alvaro. This means finding ways to make smaller spaces seem more liveable or, as Alvaro puts it, “to improve your ability to live within the available space”. These lessons have

Confident new home build

A young couple re-imagines suburban back-section living with a compact optimistic new home Never mind it was in the suburbs. It wasn’t the possibility of a picket fence that drew Henri Sayes and Nicole Stock to a rundown 1940s cottage in Onehunga, not too far from Auckland’s Maungakiekie (One Tree Hill). It was the cottage’s large, flat, north-facing back lawn, 400-odd square metres on which to build a house. More particularly, it was a chance

This home sought to echo the barn-style buildings of rural New Zealand

A rural retreat in the Wakatipu Basin by Bureaux combines modernity with rusticity and pays homage to farm-style buildings from around New Zealand This home sought to echo the barn-style buildings of rural New Zealand There is comfort in classicism, a sense of relief in not striving for the new. Here in the middle of the Wakatipu Basin, about 20 minutes’ drive from Queenstown, an Auckland-based product designer wanted to create a home to

Family-friendly city living with an industrial edge

A finalist for 2016 Home of the Year and winner of Best City Home 2016, a new home in a tough semi-industrial neighbourhood brings family living to Auckland’s centre [jwp-video n=”1″] Family-friendly city living with an industrial edge Andrea Bell and Andrew Kissell’s home is a magnificent challenge to the conventional notion that the city is no place for children. Bell and Kissell have created an enviable home for themselves and their kids Oscar, four, and

Coromandel corrugated iron home breaks with convention

Tucked away in a valley on the Coromandel Peninsula, the 2016 Home of the Year by Herbst Architects combines rusty allusions to local farm buildings with a proudly contemporary form. [jwp-video n=”1″] Coromandel corrugated iron home breaks with convention In some ways, it was an unusual brief. It asked for “humble and basic” home and expressed a desire for bunker-like solidity. Its location, on a small farm in a valley on the Coromandel Peninsula, meant

Living simply in a beautiful bach on Great Barrier

This compact bach by Fearon Hay was designed as a prototype for a flexible design that can be put down in a number of locations Architects Jeff Fearon and Tim Hay have designed a simple, compact bach concept “flexible enough,” Jeff says, “to put down in a number of spots” – not a moveable building, but a plan that was a little less site-specific than the bespoke landscape occupation of some of their other designs. Their first opportunity

A Great Barrier Island getaway by Fearon Hay

This simple compact bach designed by Fearon and Hay has a warm and nurturing interior, which is the ideal counterpoint to the bach’s wild and isolated location Architects Jeff Fearon and Tim Hay have had the luxury of designing a number of homes with expansive budgets and large floor plans. In recent years, however, they have nurtured a smaller-scale idea they yearned to put into practice: a simple, compact bach concept “flexible enough,” Jeff

An award-winning bach near Whangarei Heads

On a show-stopping site near the Whangarei Heads, Herbst Architects create a holiday home for a family of four that could house 30 people Design Notebook, Q&A with architects Nicola and Lance Herbst You had a prescribed building platform for this home on the ridge. How did you go about developing the design for it? Lance Herbst We made an early decision to separate the cars from the house. Nicola Herbst And we identified the journey, a 70-metre walk to

Wendy Shacklock designs a clifftop Waiheke home

A clifftop Waiheke location provided a fascinating challenge for architect Wendy Shacklock – to create a home that was both comforting and exciting It was a home that began with a name that sounds terribly romantic – Te Kohanga, the Maori word for nest – until you remember that nests are as precarious as they are protective, and prone to getting blown out of trees in the wind. But creating a balance of these

Interior designer Christopher Hall’s gorgeous London pad

New Zealand-born interior designer and furniture designer Christopher Hall’s petite London pad is decorated to perfection, and located just a few minutes’ walk from the Tate Modern on the Thames’ South Bank Interior designer Christopher Hall’s gorgeous London pad As a boy, Christopher Hall would walk his dog along Christchurch’s New Brighton beach and look across the ocean, dreaming of what might lie on the other side. Almost as soon as he finished high school,

This Auckland new-build is inspired by Californian modernism

Christchurch-based architect Nicholas Faith designs a home for a relatively small Auckland site that’s so robust, it’s basically bullet-proof This Auckland new-build is inspired by Californian modernism For an all-new home, this one was built for a relatively modest sum compared to the skyrocketing prices of its neighbours in this central Auckland suburb. Plus isn’t so large – about 190 square metres – it doesn’t have a garage and sits on a relatively modest 400-square-metre

New York-based New Zealander Debbi Gibbs’ prefab escape

Expat New Zealander Debbi Gibbs engaged Resolution: 4 Architecture to build a prefab pavilion on this special lakeside spot in New Jersey As much as the world loves to come to New York City, those who live here are constantly obsessing about how to escape. The answer can be closer to Manhattan than you’d expect. A decade or so ago, expatriate New Zealander Debbi Gibbs found a special lakeside spot in New Jersey for which, a

Concrete, cedar and ply combine in this Wanaka new-build

A Wanaka home designed by Wellington-based firm Lovell & O’Connell Architects is a bold, distinctive design on a street of nondescript houses Concrete, cedar and ply combine in this Wanaka new-build It is all very well to design homes with enormous budgets on spectacular sites, but architecture is in dire need of more prosaic locations. There are suburbs all over New Zealand where architecture barely makes an appearance, where even basic, age-old design lessons like the correct

A first-rate farmhouse designed by Andrew Patterson

This majestic ‘farmhouse’ designed by Andrew Patterson and his team on Annandale, a sheep and cattle station of approximately 4000 acres with more than 10 kilometres of coastline on the northern side of Banks Peninsula, will leave you breathless He has lived abroad for 35 years, but Mark Palmer never lost his connection with New Zealand. He grew up on a farm in the Bay of Plenty but left the country in his early twenties for the

An isolated yet beautiful stone bunker by Andrew Patterson

Discover this glamorous and romantic ‘studio’ made from concrete and stone on the Banks Peninsula designed by Andrew Patterson An isolated yet beautiful stone bunker by Andrew Patterson If this house looks familiar to a farmhouse on Banks Peninsula designed by Andrew Patterson , that’s because it was also designed by Patterson and his team. It’s just over a ridge from the farmhouse, and is also part of Annandale, a 4000-acre farm owned by Mark Palmer, a New Zealand businessman who

A lightweight holiday getaway by Herbst Architects

On a show-stopping site near the Whangarei Heads, Herbst Architects create a holiday home for a family of four that could house 30 people A lightweight holiday getaway by Herbst Architects Auckland-based architects Lance and Nicola Herbst have been experimenting with the best way to live in and feel connected to the New Zealand landscape and climate for 15 years. The application of their skill has resulted in a diverse range of responses, from their own bare-bones beach

A Whanganui house designed and built by recent graduates

Three enterprising youngsters throw in their desk jobs to design and build a house on a steep Whanganui hillside. Words by Nicole Stock. Photos by Paul McCredie. It reads likes something Enid Blyton would have written, had she substituted curious and adventurous children for curious and adventurous 20-something architecture graduates. Throwing in their desk-bound jobs, these three enterprising youngsters designed a small, thrifty and clever house on a steep Whanganui hillside, then built it themselves.

An elegant concrete and steel home by Daniel Marshall

This Remuera home by architect Daniel Marshall was a finalist in the Home of the Year Awards 2011 with its pared-back material palette of pre-cast concrete panels and steel beams Design Notebook Carefully arranging this home over many levels, architect Daniel Marshall‘s design leaves plenty of space for a wide, flat lawn for children to play on. Daniel Marshall likes to talk about architecture being “landscape abstracted”, which in the context of this Auckland home means

Home of the year judges )left to right) Jeremy Hansen, Tom Kundg and Stuart Gardyne.

Choosing the 2016 Home of the Year

From apartments in Wellington to rustic homes on the Coromandel, to luxurious harbourside abodes in Auckland. How do you choose a Home of the Year? This year HOME magazine’s Home of the Year award is celebrating its 21st anniversary (the award is sponsored by Altherm Window Systems). It’s never easy to choose a winner and the finalists in the award. Each year the process works like this: the magazine calls for entries from around the

Andrea, Andrew and their children on the home's staircase.

New Zealand’s best city home

Children should be raised in the suburbs? A new Auckland city home says “think again” [jwp-video n=”1″] It’s a widely held belief that children are best raised in the suburbs. But in a semi-industrial part of Auckland’s city fringe, architects Andrea Bell (who runs her own architecture firm, Bell & Co) and Andrew Kissell (an associate director at architecture firm Peddle Thorp) are disproving that belief with their own family home. (These photographs are

New Zealand’s best small home

See inside Home of the Year 2016 winner for Best Small Home that has us wanting to move in right away. [jwp-video n=”1″] HOME magazine’s Home of the Year awards are not only recognising the Supreme Winner by Herbst Architects, but great architecture in three other categories: Best Small Home, Best City Home, and Best Multi-Unit Project. The winner of the Best Small Home title is this stylish, sleek, 120-square-metre marvel near Queenstown by Anna-Marie Chin.

Home of the Year 2016: Iron Maiden

A Coromandel home clad in a skin of rusty recycled corrugated iron is the winner of the HOME magazine’s Home of the Year 2016, New Zealand’s richest architectural prize – and we have to admit we’re crazy about it. Iron Maiden: the 2016 Home of the Year Designed by husband-and-wife team Lance and Nicola Herbst of Auckland-based Herbst Architects (who receive a $15,000 cash prize thanks to award sponsors Altherm Window Systems), the home is

Home of the Year Awards sixth finalist: City fringe house by Andrea Bell and Andrew Kissell

HOME magazine is announcing the winner of its Home of the Year award on Wednesday night. We’re already in love with the six finalists in the award, and don’t know how the jury managed to pick a winner. Here, HOME’s editor Jeremy Hansen talks us through one of the finalists, the City Fringe House by Andrea Bell and Andrew Kissell. [jwp-video n=”1″] Stay tuned over the next few days for the other finalists. We’ll be revealing the winner live

Home of the Year Awards fifth finalist: Zavos apartments by Parsonson Architects

HOME magazine is announcing the winner of its Home of the Year award on Wednesday night. We’re already in love with the six finalists in the award, and don’t know how the jury managed to pick a winner. Here, HOME’s editor Jeremy Hansen talks us through one of the finalists, the Zavos Apartments by Parsonson Architects. [jwp-video n=”1″] Stay tuned over the next few days for the other finalists. We’ll be revealing the winner live at

Home of the Year Awards fourth finalist: Tom’s House by Anna-Marie Chin

HOME magazine is announcing the winner of its Home of the Year award on Wednesday night. We’re already in love with the six finalists in the award, and don’t know how the jury managed to pick a winner. Here, HOME’s editor Jeremy Hansen talks us through one of the finalists, Tom’s House by Anna-Marie Chin. [jwp-video n=”1″] Stay tuned over the next few days for the other finalists. We’ll be revealing the winner live at 7.30pm Wednesday night. And thanks

Home of the Year Awards third finalist: Harbourside House by Stevens Lawsons Architects

HOME magazine is announcing the winner of its Home of the Year award on Wednesday night. We’re already in love with the six finalists in the award, and don’t know how the jury managed to pick a winner. Here, HOME’s editor Jeremy Hansen talks us through one of the finalists, the Harbourside House by Stevens Lawsons Architects. [jwp-video n=”1″] Stay tuned over the next few days for the other finalists. We’ll be revealing the winner live at 7.30pm

Home of the Year Awards second finalist: Coromandel House by Herbst Architects

HOME magazine is announcing the winner of its Home of the Year award on Wednesday night. We’re already in love with the six finalists in the award, and don’t know how the jury managed to pick a winner. Here, HOME’s editor Jeremy Hansen talks us through one of the finalists, the Coromandel House by Herbst Architects. [jwp-video n=”1″] Stay tuned over the next few days for the other finalists. We’ll be revealing the winner live at 7.30pm Wednesday night.

Serial renovators triumph with this 1920s abode

When a long-admired 1920s abode came on the market, this energetic family in Sydney jumped at the chance to make it their dream home Jane Garrett is a graphic designer who lives with her partner Peter and teenage children Phoebe and Gil. They bought their home on Sydney’s North Shore back in 2006. “It was built in 1919 and we thought it was a bit unusual and that there was something special about it,” explains Jane.

Home of the Year Awards first finalist: Villameter by Anthony Hoete

HOME’s editor Jeremy Hansen talks us through one of the finalists in Home of the Year 2016, the Villameter House by Anthony Hoete. [jwp-video n=”1″] Stay tuned over the next few days for the other finalists. We’ll be revealing the winner live at 7.30pm Wednesday night. And thanks to our award sponsors, Altherm Window Systems.

Perched amidst a vineyard is a modern home with a traditional flavour

David and Wendy Hendl gave their old friend, architect Marshall Cook, free rein to come up with a design that suited their home’s vineyard location on the southern headland of Manukau Harbour. The resulting home was a finalist in HOME magazine’s Home of Year Awards in 2011. At a glance Where is it? Awhitu Vines vineyard at the southern headland of Manukau Harbour Who are the homeowners? David and Wendy Hendl Who is the architect?

Architect Richard Naish’s first family home

Richard Naish of RTA Studio won the Home of the Year 2015 with the design of a home for himself and his family in the Auckland suburb of Grey Lynn. However, this wasn’t his first stab at designing such a dwelling: the first home he designed for his family, just across Grey Lynn Park, was a finalist in our 2011 Home of the Year award. Design Notebook Occupying a double-sized site in a street of

How limited space and budget leads to architectural magic

Tim Heath designs a compact home and painting studio perched above Otago Harbour “They wanted a small house on a minimal budget.” These words are not always music to an architect’s ears, but it’s just the sort of challenge relished by Tim Heath, founder of the Dunedin-based firm Architectural Ecology. Inspired by a “cracker site” with amazing views on the edge of Otago Harbour at Port Chalmers and the desire of his clients, Blair Kennedy

A cracker site above Otago Harbour with amazing views

Tim Heath designs a compact home and painting studio perched above Otago Harbour Design notebook Q&A with Tim Heath from Architectural Ecology What were you asked to design here? They wanted a small house on a minimal budget of about $400,000. We had to work very hard to achieve it. They had this cracker site with amazing views. They were quite adamant that the kitchen and dining areas should be central to the way they

A garden pavilion inspired by Italian modernism

Architect Andrew Patterson designs a new Auckland home inspired by the symmetry and severity of late 1960s Italian modernist buildings Q&A Architect Andrew Patterson of Patterson Associates From the exterior, the building looks quite rigid in its geometry. What inspired its design? I love the severity of Italian modernism of the late 60s and 70s. In the Milan industrial suburbs, you see all these severe, panelled, modest buildings that we never saw the likes of

An elegant ensuite and dressing room design

The luxury of space affords an elegant ensuite, as well as his-and-hers areas in this space designed by interior designer Sonja Hawkins At a glance Bathroom type Main ensuite Designer Sonja Hawkins Location Auckland Brief Storage, space and an aesthetic to suit the home’s architecture. The bathroom was designed by interior designer Sonja Hawkins. Q&A with interior designer Sonja Hawkins Sonja, how was the process of designing your own ensuite and dressing room? I try

RTA Studio win supreme award at 2015 Home of the Year

Inside the Auckland home by architect Richard Naish of RTA Studio took out the HOME magazine Home of the Year award in 2015 [bjd-responsive-iframe src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/0IhpWZIVJxk” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen”] RTA Studio win supreme award at 2015 Home of the Year Richard Naish’s winning design is a series of pavilions set in a suburban Auckland setting, with the form and scale of the home complementing the heritage nature of the neighbourhood. Watch to discover the full story behind the

This villa facade hides all sorts of surprises

Behind a regular villa facade, John Reynolds and Claire McLintock’s revamped Auckland home offers all sorts of surprises This villa facade hides all sorts of surprises “The roof had been leaking down inside the walls for years. There were rats in the ceiling, the piles were rotten and the whole place was damp and mouldy. It was basically a sick building.” Artist John Reynolds and his brother Patrick (who took the photographs for this article)

Architect Malcolm Walker tackles a modern villa extension

A traditional villa facade hides a soaring, chapel-like quality at the rear of the house, with monumental walls of concrete, a huge window and triangular skylight DESIGN NOTEBOOK Q&A with architect Malcolm Walker Do you relish villa renovations or sigh deeply each time you take one on? I never sigh. Some are more of a challenge than others, but it’s never dull. Although the villa itself is fairly repetitive, a modern house demands much more and that’s

Kerr Ritchie Architects design a cliffside Dunedin home

This economically sized, linear home by Kerr Ritchie Architects hugs the Dunedin cliff side, maximising the sunlight Q&A with Pete Ritchie and Bronwen Kerr of Kerr Ritchie Architects What were the three most important design decisions you made on the home? Pete Ritchie: The decision to make a linear form that hung off the hillside to maximise the Dunedin sun and reduce the height of the substructure was one. It was the only logical thing cost-wise, but that

A Muriwai kitchen that captures the ocean view

Julian Guthrie lends masterful touches of drama to the kitchen of this clifftop home Architect Julian Guthrie with Lindon Harris of Johannes Erren Cabinetmakers Brief A social kitchen to enable interaction with guests and for the views to be enjoyed while cooking. [gallery_link num_photos=”18″ media=”https://homemagazine.nz/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/HE1215_HOMES_MuriwaiMURIWAI-HSE_6907-750×977.jpg” link=”/inside-homes/home-features/qa-with-architect-julian-guthrie” title=”See the rest of this house here”] Q&A with architect Julian Guthrie The cabinetry cleverly bleeds into the room. How was this achieved without it becoming intrusive? The design tapers the

Ceramic artist Amanda Shanley’s Otago Peninsula home

Ceramic artist Amanda Shanley’s new Otago Peninsula home by Kerr Ritchie Architects looks at Dunedin from a lofty perch Ceramic artist Amanda Shanley’s Otago Peninsula home The home Amanda Shanley shares with her husband, financial adviser Rhodes Donald, and their six-year-old daughter Frances was designed by Bronwen Kerr and Pete Ritchie of Queenstown-based Kerr Ritchie Architects. The home is a simple black container that clings to a steep site with views of central Dunedin and

The ‘ugliest house on the Kapiti coast’ gets reinvented

Architect Gerald Parsonson reinvents a near-decrepit Kapiti Coast bach As invitations go, it wasn’t the most enticing. Rob and Helen Goldblatt were told by friends that the ugliest house on a Kapiti Coast beach was for sale – and that they should take a look. Eventually, they did so. Fast forward a little over 30 years, and they still own the property – although now, thanks to a recent renovation by Parsonson Architects, their old

Revealed: our Home of the Year 2016 finalists

The judges have toured the country, and made their choices. Now HOME magazine is delighted to announce the finalists in the Home of the Year 2016, sponsored by Altherm Window Systems The Supreme Winner of New Zealand’s richest architectural prize (the winning architects receive $15,000) will be announced at an event in Auckland on Wednesday 30 March – but first, we want to tell you who’s in the running for the top award, as well

Parsonson Architects reinvigorate a “near decrepit” bach

Parsonson Architects reinvigorate what was once the ‘ugliest house on the Kapiti Coast’. We catch up with architect Gerald Parsonson to talk about the renovation Q&A with Gerald Parsonson of Parsonson Architects When you visited the old bach, you realised you had your work cut out for you – why was that? So many of last century’s houses were built with no consideration to their environs, so you end up with these suburban-style dwellings plonked next to the

An affordable housing model is put to the test in Berlin

New Zealand artist Ruth Buchanan tests an affordable housing model in Berlin, which provides room for wider community use and emphasises shared spaces An affordable housing model is put to the test in Berlin While housing affordability worsens in parts of this country, a New Zealand artist in Berlin and a group of her peers have found a solution that could easily be applied elsewhere. Artist Ruth Buchanan has lived in Berlin for almost six

Living large by the bay in a holiday home by Bossley Architects

At 1200 square metres, this Bay of Islands ‘bach’ is a big dose of A-grade holiday home Q&A with architect Pete Bossley The trend these days seems to be for small houses. This isn’t one of them. I think small houses are great. The ability to live in smaller houses is something that is coming upon us, certainly in urban situations, and I’m all for it. Then again, people’s requirements are different. The clients have a

Why housing doesn’t have to cost a fortune

With housing affordability worsening in parts of New Zealand, a New Zealand artist in Berlin and a group of her peers have found a solution that could easily be applied elsewhere At a glance New Zealand artist Ruth Buchanan and her architect partner Andreas Muller joined a group of like-minded folk to develop their own apartment They now live on the ground floor of a six-storey, 19-apartment building The home is a spacious 106-square-metres plus an

Architect Pete Bossley’s Awhitu Peninsula retreat

An architect and artist design a vivid, adaptable Awhitu Peninsula studio as a place to retreat and create. If you want to visit architect Pete Bossley and artist Miriam van Wezel at their Orua Bay bach on the Manukau Harbour, you need impeccable timing. With no access by road, you have to drive across the soft sand and treacherous rocks. Or walk. When I visit the couple on a stormy spring morning, we are

A luxurious new-build by Julian Guthrie

Design notebook: Q&A with Julian Guthrie This is a big home – how do you maintain architectural control on a large canvas like this? Space is the greatest luxury, but the success of a large home is to create connection between all the parts of the house, both horizontally and vertically, and an easy circulation. How did you want the interior spaces to feel? And what makes a successful interior for you? In this home we wanted

A Bethells Beach house that fuses history and modernity

The owners of this Bethells Beach home are strong horsewomen with a deep connection to the land. “The house is like a portrait of them,” says architect Nicholas Stevens, and needed to feel both old and new A horse saunters up the grassy bank and a horde of enraptured children races towards the adjacent swimming pool. In the midst of such activity, this Te Henga house feels remarkably responsive to Le Corbusier’s suggestion that architecture is best

Artist Stephen Bambury’s Western Springs home

In Auckland’s Western Springs, a series of “combative” discussions between artist Stephen Bambury, his wife Jan and architect Pip Cheshire results in a light-as-air fusion of art and architecture. “It’s like living inside one of my paintings,” the artist says. Artist Stephen Bambury’s Western Springs home On a recent clear spring evening on the roof terrace of the house belonging to Stephen and Jan Bambury in Auckland’s Western Springs, a discussion took place about the home as if it were a well-loved family

Modernist architect Franz Iseke’s design is lovingly restored

Step inside the reinvigorated home designed by the modernist architect Franz Iseke in 1971 for Thames’ chief surgeon Design notebook Q&A with Greg Smith of Lost Property, lostproperty.org.nz. Who was Franz Iseke (the original architect of this home) and what elements characterised his work? Iseke was born in Shanghai in 1926 and gained his diploma in architecture at Munich University, before studying at Harvard. It seems Franz spent a little time in the US before

A 1970s Thames home is sensitively renovated

A classic home in Thames is nursed back to health by a long-time admirer Dean Sharpe never forgot the first house he fell in love with. He grew up in Thames, just up the road from a home designed by the modernist architect Franz Iseke in 1971 for the town’s chief surgeon, Philip Lane, and his wife Meg. He remembers his childhood admiration for the daring feat of building a home on the edge

A mighty concrete home on a cliff above Hobson Bay

Inspired by historic gun emplacements on nearby Bastion Point, architect Julian Guthrie creates a clifftop home for the ages. Photos by Patrick Reynolds. Fearing a Russian invasion in the late-1800s, twin military installations were built on North Head, in the Auckland suburb of Devonport, and across the harbour on Bastion Point, the now-famous headland between Okahu Bay and Mission Bay. The installations were expanded during World War I and remained operational until after World War II.

An architectural marvel at Bethells Beach

With animals outside and a wild collection of art and antiques indoors, a home by Stevens Lawson Architects on Auckland’s west coast feels like something out of a dream Q&A with architect Nicholas Stevens of Stevens Lawson How did this amazing location behind the dunes of Te Henga affect your design? There is a big responsibility that comes with building in such a place, so it was important that the house felt that it belonged in

A pool house with a difference

A watery retreat by Herbst Architects makes outdoor living easy A pool house with a difference It wasn’t your average architectural project. For starters, the house – large, traditional in style and beautifully made with stone and timber – already existed. Its owners, Rick and Charlotte Anderson, weren’t interested in renovating it, but in improving its relationship with the site around it. It took persistence, but eventually they persuaded architects Lance and Nicola Herbst to

A Rakino Island getaway that keeps things simple

Architect Malcolm Walker designs a holiday home with a compact footprint on a stunning site A Rakino Island getaway that keeps things simple The single road through Rakino Island in the Hauraki Gulf rises and falls in rhythm with the bite-size coves that indent the island’s coastline. Above Maori Garden Bay, where the friable loam was once farmed with kumara and yams, the homes in the Golden Heights development face east. For holidaymakers, sunrise is

4 pool designs you’ll want to dip your toes into

As summer strikes, we’ve uncovered four stylish ways of taking to the waters, with pool designs that make outdoor living easy

Q&A with award-winning architect Julian Guthrie

We catch up with architect Julian Guthrie, who designed this home on a cliff above Muriwai Beach that sits rock-solid in sunshine and storms Design notebook, Q&A with architect Julian Guthrie This is a dramatic but exposed site. Is that why you decided on the anchoring concrete wall? Yes. The wall provides both a physical and metaphorical buttress to the southerly winds, counterbalancing the extensive glass of the rest of the living room. It also creates a thermal

A small Auckland backyard becomes a tropical paradise

Fearon Hay transforms a petite Auckland back yard into a summery paradise A small Auckland backyard becomes a tropical paradise Poorly designed pools can feel as if they’ve severed a back yard in two, a lose-lose situation that results in an unpleasant sense of constriction and very little of the holiday-at-home joy such a body of water is supposed to impart. But it doesn’t have to be this way, as an Auckland pool by Jeff

A holiday home on Rakino Island is the ultimate escape

Malcolm Walker’s design for this holiday home picks up on the architectural language of Vernon Brown’s work from the 1930s to the 1950s Q&A with architect Malcolm Walker of Malcom Walker Architects People talk about the importance of paring back holiday homes. How did you do it here? Tony Watkins once said a holiday house celebrates what you’ve got; a bach celebrates what you don’t need. Rakino is an island of basics – that’s why you

This warehouse conversion bathroom was a labour of love

A tiny concealed space in a small warehouse conversion is a labour of love Architect Ben Daly’s brief for this Wellington bathroom was to create a compact space with its own identity. How did working with a tight budget and recycled materials transpire in the bathroom? I didn’t make the bathroom bigger (it’s six square metres) and used the original location of plumbing. The cheaper items are my favourites – the old brass taps

A pool and pavilion by Pattersons architects

A pool and pavilion by Pattersons on Canterbury’s Banks Peninsula is a getaway all its own It is a modern pool in the grounds of a historic house. The location is Annandale, a sheep and cattle station on Canterbury’s Banks Peninsula with which regular readers of this magazine might be familiar, as we have featured three properties on the farm in previous issues: the Scrubby Bay Farmhouse, the single-bedroom getaway known as Seascape, and a

New Zealand tramping huts inspired the design of this getaway near Tairua

Inspired by the tramping huts that dot New Zealand’s national parks, Richard Naish gets back to basics with a rustic red getaway shed New Zealand tramping huts inspired the design of this getaway near Tairua For experienced and adventurous trampers, the ones who weave their own paths through forests, across ranges and along hidden streams, the tramping hut is laden with meaning. It is shelter and rest, warmth and nourishment, solitary reflection and social bonding.

This view of the kitchen shows a glimpse of the home's guest bedroom. Photograph by Jeremy Toth.

An architect’s own sleek-but-simple holiday getaway

[jwp-video n=”1″] An architect’s own sleek-but-simple holiday getaway Evelyn McNamara‘s holiday home on Waiheke Island is something of a statement, and we’re not just talking about its bold black-and-white colour palette. McNamara believes many New Zealand holiday homes have gotten a bit too big, abandoning their bach origins and forgetting a few things about summer simplicity. So she designed this 72-square-metre home to show that contemporary baches could be simple and sleek. McNamara isn’t intending

An architecture studio built on an extreme Lyttelton hillside

High on a Lyttelton hilltop, a new building by Michael O’Sullivan makes for a spectacular creative getaway Q&A with Michael O’Sullivan of Bull O’Sullivan Architects You’re based in Auckland. How did you end up designing and owning this building in Lyttelton? Christchurch called us by way of a house we were building for a neighbouring property and by a desire to build a special architectural drawing room. When I stood on the land it was

A Canadian couple build a holiday house in Auckland

The Canadian owners of this Auckland home by Fearon Hay escape brutal northern hemisphere winters for this stunning beach-side location A Canadian couple build a holiday house in Auckland It might seem a little odd to design a holiday house in the middle of an Auckland coastal suburb, but that’s exactly what the owners of this home asked Fearon Hay Architects to do. Based in Canada, the owners and their children visit the house each year to escape their

Kiwi chef Peter Gordon’s London pad and lush garden

Peter Gordon’s London home is a sweet retreat in a near-famous street Q&A with Peter Gordon Your street has a lovely austerity about it. But you weren’t that keen on the street when you first saw it, were you? Some friends had suggested I move here, but initially I thought it was hideous. The only plant was a weed growing off the train bridge, but when I looked inside it felt good and there was

Tom Kundig designed six Rolling Hut cabins in Washington State.

Tom Kundig to visit New Zealand

Exciting news: the great Seattle-based architect Tom Kundig, designer of some of the most sublime cabins you’ve ever seen, is visiting New Zealand in late January. Tom’s work combines a deep respect for nature with an intimate sense of refuge. Tom Kundig will visit New Zealand as the international member of HOME magazine’s Home of the Year 2016 jury. He will give talks in Auckland (on Tuesday January 26; buy tickets here) and Wellington

A low concrete retaining wall and gravel paths frame the cottage. “I feel it’s really settled in the landscape,” Alvaro says. “It sits on the ground so it really belongs.”

A Queenstown guest cottage reveals the joy of dreaming small

It is small – 120 square metres – and perfectly formed. It is also a lesson in how a little can turn out to be just enough. It is a guest cottage on a central Otago property that was originally envisaged as the first piece in a larger puzzle that included a new family home The property, with its 1870s stone stables, a chicken shed and a collapsing cottage, was purchased by a couple

A home and eco-sanctuary alongside the Waimata River

Near Gisborne, Jeremy and Anne Salmond create a home and eco-sanctuary, regenerating a once-magnificent landscape A home and eco-sanctuary alongside the Waimata River Follow the snaking gravel track alongside the Waimata River, 9km out of Gisborne, and you will find a rare and beautiful slice of riverside bush. Thanks to the dedication of Dame Anne and Jeremy Salmond, this protected area is now alive with the sound of tui, bellbirds, piwakawaka and kereru. The Longbush Ecosanctuary