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 the design of Union Green. The project is mix of 75 terrace homes (ranging from $650,000 to $1.2 million in price) and an apartment tower (with apartments from $400,000 to $900,000) situated around a shared green space by landscape design firm Natural Habitats.
Not far away, just off Symonds Street in Khyber Pass Road, Pip Cheshire of Cheshire Architects has teamed up with developers Lamont & Co to create SKHY, a conversion of a 1970s office tower with a handsome concrete structure into 37 apartments (priced from $615,000 for a one-bedroom apartment) with generous terraces and huge city views. There’ll also be a new mixed-use precinct on the bottom four floors. After decades of uninspiring apartment buildings being thrown up in the city, it’s good to see some of Auckland’s best architects weighing in with appealing new urban visions.
uniongreen.co.nz
skhy.org
