Homes Archives

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

A spectacular home on the Pakiri coastline sculpted from steel

It made its debut on Grand Designs NZ, and this new home by Paul Clarke named ‘The Crossing’, brings its owner surprising happiness You move to the country to get away from other people or bring other people to you: you build a fortress or a destination. Scott Lawrie, who lives alone with his dog Skip on the hills above Pakiri Beach, is firmly in the latter category. Lawrie, an outgoing Scotsman who lived in Sydney

Home of the Year 2016 entries now open

Can your home scoop New Zealand’s richest architectural prize? HOME magazine is calling for entries for its 21st annual Home of the Year awards. This year, the magazine is expanding its awards programme beyond the Supreme Award for the best New Zealand home (which gets a $15,000 first prize, thanks to our sponsors, Altherm Window Systems). In 2016, the Home of the Year award has four new sub-categories: Best Beach Home, Best City Home, Best

This 112-square-metre home is a big upgrade for this family of five

Architect Michael O’Sullivan finds freedom in designing a small home for his family, which was shortlisted for Home of the Year in 2009 This 112-square-metre home is a big upgrade for this family of five Small home: O’Sullivan Family Home, Mangere Bridge, Auckland Floor Area: 112m2 Architect: Michael O’Sullivan, Bull O’Sullivan Architecture Number of Occupants: Five One of the most effective ways to make a small home feel larger is to live in an even

This Christchurch townhouse is an example of density done well

A developer does his bit to densify Christchurch’s inner-east suburbs This Christchurch townhouse is an example of density done well When Jeremy Williams asked his friend, Christchurch architectural designer Tobin Smith, to design him a bachelor pad, they knew it had to be small: the site was just 10 metres wide and 46 metres long, and Smith laughed at Williams’ desire to build two townhouses there. Williams took the smallest of the townhouses, an 82-square-metre

Kitchens: an elegant, family-oriented space

The brief Morgan Cronin received for this Parnell kitchen came from friends and was very relaxed; They needed a functional space that suited their family of five. The biggest challenge was avoiding separation between the scullery and the family area. The kitchen has been designed to work personally for them and their three children. Photograph by Kallan MacLeod. HOME What was your brief for this space, and what were the main challenges in meeting it?

This tiny cabin in the Coromandel is an incredible answer to a bach

Measuring just 40-square-metres in size, this petite holiday home in the Coromandel packs a powerful design punch This tiny cabin in the Coromandel is an incredible answer to a bach Small home: Hut on Sleds, Coromandel Peninsula Architect: Ken Crosson, Crosson Architects Floor area: 40m2 Number of occupants: Five or more during holidays Photography: Jackie Meiring Yes, we hear you: it’s easier to make holiday homes small because they don’t have to accommodate the complexity

An affordable Wellington home on a modest footprint

This Wellington couple solved their affordability problem by building a home with a modest footprint An affordable Wellington home on a modest footprint Small home: Island Bay House, Wellington Designer: Andrew Simpson, Wiredog Architecture Floor area: 50m2 Number of Occupants: Two (plus two whippets) When Andrew Simpson (above) and Krysty Peebles began looking for a home, all their budget would allow was an abode in a far-flung suburb. But they didn’t like the idea of

How building restrictions led to a cleverly compact home

A family of four takes to compact living with ease in this Mt Albert, Auckland new-build by architect Marc Lithgow An 80-square-metre garage is used as a footprint for this new two storey Auckland home It wasn’t as if Joe and Vanessa Stradwick and their two children lacked the space for a bigger house: their site in Mount Albert, Auckland, is a quarter-acre (1500 square metres). It had been subdivided from the large home next

This Auckland architect designed his family home around the essentials

With a limited budget and small site, architect Davor Popadich and his wife Abbe set out to build an efficient family home with just the essentials This Auckland architect designed his family home around the essentials Davor Popadich is a director of the Auckland architecture firm Pattersons and has plenty of experience designing houses, almost all of them spectacular creations with budgets far larger than his own. And while it is often said that an

A compact new home in Auckland reimagines suburban living

A young couple re-imagines suburban back-section living with a compact optimistic new home. A compact new home in Auckland reimagines suburban living 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

40 square metres of pure joy

First, a confession. When I first saw the image of Crosson Clarke Carnachan’s ‘moveable’ beach house being loaded onto a Freight Link ferry, I totally bought it. The structure is certainly small enough to qualify as cargo, and the scale of it relative to the vessel is convincing. Maybe this really is how it came to rest on the eastern side of the Coromandel Peninsula at Whangapoua – barged right up to the beach

Inside three Home of the Year-winning studios

Take a look inside the studios where Home of the Year winning houses are first dreamed up. Cheshire Architects, whose twin cabins on the Kaipara Harbour won Home of the Year in 2014 and the People’s Choice award this year; Fearon Hay, whose holiday home won Home of the Year in 2000, and Stevens Lawson, a studio with four Home of the Year wins to its name. Production by Amelia Holmes

Home of the Year 2012 – Under a Pohutukawa

Under a Pohutukawa, a home by Herbst Architects, building inside a mature forest. [jwp-video n=”1″]

Ben Daly’s advice for small spaces

Ben Daly worked as an architect until deciding to go it alone, chucking in his job to take on the design and build of the Wellington apartment interior that he shares with his wife Dulia, and which stars on the cover of our new issue. Here, Ben talks about the techniques he used to get the most out of their 66-square-metre space. HOME You’ve created a fantastic 66-square-metre space for yourself and Dulia. Did

A Wanaka home is built using ancient yet unconventional material

A Wanaka home is built using ancient yet unconventional material If you’re asking for a home that feels deeply connected to its location, then it’s hard to top this: a dwelling with walls made of rammed earth taken, if not literally from the site itself, then just a few kilometres down the road in Wanaka’s Cardrona Valley. For owners Stuart and Melanie Pinfold, the selection of this ancient but still unconventional material for their family

Simon James’ lovely new home

Simon James’ Auckland showroom has a generous new residential focus, thanks to an expanded and renovated ground-floor space that showcases the firm’s offerings for the home. Alongside James’ own designs – including his ‘Hex’ pendant, which won our Design Awards in 2013 – are creations by New Zealand designers Nat Cheshire, Jamie McLellan, Phil Cuttance, Cameron Foggo, Gidon Bing and Jason Whiteley, as well as the best of imported brands including Massproductions, Established

Nestled in the Titirangi treetops this home charms all who visit

The surprising form and hue of this Titirangi home brings joy to everyone who encounters it. Discover the story behind this 2015 Home of the Year finalist Nestled in the Titirangi treetops this home charms all who visit A homage to playfulness, this red cube on a Titirangi hillside is like a sculpture made with oversized Lego bricks. Its presence amid the greenery is surprising, yet the contrast somehow speaks of place – and almost

Two Home of the Year-winning studios’ designs on city living

Higher-density living in Auckland is starting to look more appealing, as two Home of the Year-winning studios weigh in with some of the most exciting new residential developments the city has seen in decades. On Union Street – just a couple of blocks from HOME’s offices at Auckland’s CityWorks Depot in Wellesley Street – Jeff Fearon and Tim Hay of Fearon Hay Architects are working with Peddle Thorp Architects and developers Myland Partners on

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. In fact, 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. Here’s our story and video of the Naish-Hotere family’s

Home of the Year 2015 : E Type House

We’re delighted to announce that an Auckland home designed by architect Richard Naish of RTA Studio for his own family has been selected as the Home of the Year for 2015. The home was selected from among six finalists located in Auckland, Waikato, Gisborne and Wanaka. Richard Naish receives a $15,000 prize for the design of the five-bedroom home (thanks to our award sponsors Altherm Window Systems). Located in a neighbourhood of traditional bungalows and

And the finalists are…

The judges have visited the homes, and some tough calls have been made. So we’re delighted to present the six finalists in the 2015 Home of the Year award. These have been selected from the shortlist of 10 homes chosen by our Home of the Year judges: Los Angeles-based architect Julie Eizenberg, Nat Cheshire of Auckland’s Cheshire Architects, and HOME editor Jeremy Hansen. The winner of the $15,000 first prize (thanks to our

5 bathrooms that shun clinical clichés in favour of rich materials

Here are five bathrooms that shun clinical clichés in favour of rich materials, and spaces worth luxuriating in. Each is suffused with natural light, including Fearon Hay’s semi-subterranean bathroom at Omaha Beach. 1. Ponsonby, Auckland by McKinney Windeatt What was your brief and what made you want to foster the strong connection with the outdoors? Jack McKinney, McKinney Windeatt Architects The clients asked for a “spectacular” bathroom and we interpreted this as a request for a

McCahon’s work is right at home

There is a strange power to the spaces that artists have occupied, the rooms in which they have crated their work. In the early 1950s, Colin McCahon’s paintings had arguably generated more hostility than praise, and he indicated that he felt his creativity had stalled: He was casting about for a way forward in his work. He left the South Island, eventually securing a curatorial job at the Auckland Art Gallery and, according to Peter

2014: Nat Cheshire’s tiny, brooding cabins

Cheshire Architects win the 2014 Home of the Year award for their tiny, twin cabins nestled in an inlet of the Kaipara Harbour 2014: Nat Cheshire’s tiny, brooding cabins Let’s begin with the back story. About three years ago, two friends pooled their resources to buy land beside an inlet on the Kaipara Harbour just over an hour’s drive north of Auckland. They kitted out a small shed on the land with a bed, a

2013: Stevens Lawson and an organic plan

The 2013 Home of the Year winner is a curvaceous home designed by Stevens Lawson Architects that perches on the headland on Waiheke Island 2013: Stevens Lawson and an organic plan To the east, waves crash over black rocks. To the west, a vertiginous drop to a gorgeous white-sand beach. Directly north, through the gnarled bows of a beautiful pohutukawa, sunlight glitters on the ocean all the way to the horizon. On this lofty headland

2012: Herbst Architects’ Under Pohutukawa

Nestled amongst dark branches of gnarled pohutukawa is the Piha house by Herbst Architects, the winner of the 2012 Home of the Year award [jwp-video n=”1″] 2012: Herbst Architects’ Under Pohutukawa Dark branches of gnarled pohutukawa reach for the sea at the edge of Piha’s black-sand beach. They are mesmerisingly beautiful even without their red spikes of summer colour, but the houses around here mostly ignore them, striving instead for a glimpse of the surf.

2011: Michael O’Sullivan goes wild on the west coast

From Kare Kare beach, the Home of the Year 2011 is invisible but for a slot of sky reflected in the long horizontal windows of its living room 2011: Michael O’Sullivan goes wild on the west coast From down on the black sands of Kare Kare beach at dusk, the Home of the Year 2011 is invisible but for a slot of sky reflected in the long horizontal windows of its living room. So far,

2010: Stevens Lawson’s Wanaka geometry

2010: Stevens Lawson’s Wanaka geometry It started with a piece of paper, a square of white parchment standing in for golden contours beside a sparkling lake. Over time, the paper was tilted, folded and cut, a rough piece of origami that eventually became the model for the house you see here. Like an avant-garde garment created by an exacting tailor, the 2010 Home of the Year is a highly original piece of architecture that is

The 2009 Home of the Year by Mitchell & Stout

The 2009 Home of the Year stands proudly in a beautiful landscape on Waiheke Island, two tall cedar volumes that act as bookends to the living in between The 2009 Home of the Year by Mitchell & Stout Popular wisdom these days has it that buildings are generally a blight on a scenic outlook. Some houses attempt to deflect such criticism by apologetically burying themselves or deploying other tactics to recede into their surroundings, but this home will have

2008: Melling Morse’s Signal Box

Named ‘Signal Box’, the 2008 winner sits on a discreet back-section near the Masterton railway station combining imagination and great practicality 2008: Melling Morse’s Signal Box To get there, you travel through a sleepy part of Masterton where villas mingle with small industrial buildings. As you approach the railway station at the end of the road you expect the Signal Box, as the home is called, to helpfully poke its head above its low-key surrounds and wave in your direction. No

2007: Harbourside darkness by Stevens Lawson

2007: Harbourside darkness by Stevens Lawson The winner of the Home of the Year 2007 is an enigmatic dwelling that lies above tidal mudflats in the Auckland suburb of Westmere. From the street, it is mysterious, looking like a big old blackened log washed up on the bank, more of an abstract sculptural form than a house. Its unremitting blackness brings to mind old creosote baches, or the tar our dads would pitch our plywood dinghies with. It is a home

2006: Hugh Tennent and a family in the forest

An intimate embrace of native and exotic trees facing the waters of Wellington harbour, and tended by the same family of fanatical gardeners for a century 2006: Hugh Tennent and a family in the forest It is a site magnificent enough to make any architect nervous about the prospect of ruining it: an intimate embrace of native and exotic trees facing the moody waters of Wellington harbour, and tended by the same family of fanatical gardeners for a century.

2005: Mitchell & Stout’s King Country ‘tramping hut’

When the team from Mitchell Stout architects first ascended into the King Country, they were not disappointed by the destination 2005: Mitchell & Stout’s King Country ‘tramping hut’ In a boom economy with rocket-boosted real estate prices, the 2005 Home of the Year was, to some, a refreshing selection: a moderately budgeted, idiosyncratic home with magnificent views not of a millionaire’s seascape, but an unapologetically rural King Country valley. When the team from Mitchell Stout architects

2004: Pete Bossley and a spectacular parabolic roof

An alluring combination of solidity and symbolism is embodied in this Bay of Islands holiday home – the winner of the 2004 Home of the Year Award 2004: Pete Bossley and a spectacular parabolic roof With his second Home of the Year winning design, Auckland architect Pete Bossley responded to the owners’ request for something “open but substantial”, with a confident approach teaming concrete and glass in an intricate medley that sings of strength. The crowning glory

The 2003 Home of the Year: a bach on Otama beach

Architect Ken Crosson’s seductively simple bach on Otama Beach on the Coromandel Peninsula won our Home of the Year award in 2003 and the Home of the Decade title in 2005. The 2003 Home of the Year: a bach on Otama beach Sitting above a deserted white-sand Coromandel beach, the bach Ken Crosson designed for himself and his family is a timber box resting on a manuka-clad hillside that opens up to reveal unimpeded views

2002: Stevens Lawson’s first win

2002: Stevens Lawson’s first win If this Auckland home was a person, you could perhaps describe it as being contemporary, but aware of the past, with good bones, strong character and a hint of Japanese style. Not to mention being more than a little enigmatic. The house, designed by architect Nicholas Stevens of Stevens Lawson Architects, doesn’t reveal itself all at once. Rooms emerge as you move through the interior – there is no axis

2001: Gerald Parsonson’s Kapiti Coast getaway

Gerald Parsonson’s combination of cutting-edge architecture and family comfort produced this light and dynamic bach that won the 2001 Home of the Year 2001: Gerald Parsonson’s Kapiti Coast getaway Like many New Zealanders, Wellington architect Gerald Parsonson and his wife Kate have enduring memories of holidays spent in simple seaside cottages – so when it came time to build their own holiday retreat, it’s not surprising the design incorporated much of the spirit of the

2000: Fearon Hay’s Bay of Islands debut

Tim Hay and Jeff Fearon were just 27 and 28 respectively when they won the Home of the Year award in 2000 with this retreat in the Bay of Islands 2000: Fearon Hay’s Bay of Islands debut Tim Hay and Jeff Fearon were just 27 and 28 respectively when they won the Home of the Year award in 2000. By that time, they’d already completed a host of substantial commissions, but their Home of the

1999: Gerrad Hall’s slice of Auckland paradise

Gerrad Hall won the 1999 Home of the Year, aged 28, with the first house he ever designed: a courtyard house on a tiny Auckland site 1999: Gerrad Hall’s slice of Auckland paradise Gerrad Hall won the 1999 Home of the Year, aged 28, with the first house he ever designed. “At the time I was an employee and hadn’t had any exposure,” he remembers. “I thought ‘who else would trust me with that amount

1998: A Bay of Islands retreat by Pete Bossley

The 1998 winner is comprised of a simple mono-pitched roof that hovers delicately above the house’s skeletal structure where views continue uninterrupted 1998: A Bay of Islands retreat by Pete Bossley Two-time Home of the Year winner Pete Bossley of Pete Bossley Architects agrees when it’s suggested to him that this holiday house is one of the most significant buildings of his career. “It has received a lot of support and recognition,” he says. “From

1997: Felicity Wallace and an urban masterclass

A disciplined palette of materials in a series of abstracted geometric shapes formed the winner of the 1997 Home of the Year by Felicity Wallace 1997: Felicity Wallace and an urban masterclass Every so often a new house rivets the attention of the design community and piques the curiosity of passers-by on the streets. That was definitely the case with the 1997 Home of the Year winner, designed by architect Felicity Wallace. The house is

1996: Architectus design our first Home of the Year

1996: Architectus design our first Home of the Year The winning design of the first Home of the Year in 1996 is still home to Patrick Clifford of Architectus and his family. At the time the house was first featured, Patrick and Leslie Forsyth were parents to baby Phoebe. Now she is a young adult with a sister and brother, Stella and Theo. The home was four years in the making. It has the quality of a

Light and space for a Brooklyn artist

Light and space for a Brooklyn artist To wake up surrounded by your own work would be, for many, the surprise twist in the plot of a particularly bad dream. But for artist Jennifer Bartlett – famous for her monumental installations of painted square steel plates – it’s simply a way of life. The general assumption is that the corollary of success is a separation of home and studio; that artists will inevitably leave the

The design of this Wanaka retreat is simplicity at its finest

We discover how the stripped back design of this Wanaka retreat was inspired by family camping trips and vernacular sheds Summer simplicity at rest in the Wanaka landscape The holiday home beside Wanaka’s Mt Iron that architect Anna-Marie Chin designed for her cousin Michael, his wife Michele and their three children is the continuation of a long family tradition. Anna-Marie, the Arrowtown-based principal of Crosson Clarke Carnachan Chin Architects, grew up in Invercargill and fondly

Bathrooms: from a timber-lined escape to cave-like drama

There is simply no excuse for a basic bathroom. These five from Patterson Associates, Assembly Architects, Herbst and Wendy Shacklock run the gamut from intimate, dark spaces to light and bright renovations – inspiration for every style and budget. 1. Shelter from the norm – Seascape House, Banks Peninsula, Patterson Associates HOME Your first diagrams for this house consisted of “a bed and a fire and a cave to fit them in”. How does the

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