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home—— OF THE ——

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HOME OF THE YEAR ISSUE

104. SYSTEM VIRTUE Andrew Simpson finds the virtues of going small in Wellington

128. LIFE ON THE EDGE A Waiheke Island home by Wendy Shacklock

116. REAL TIME Lovell & O'Connell Architects design a striking new home in Wanaka

90. ROCK STEADY A Whangarei Heads holiday home by Herbst Architects

76. LAND, SEA AND SKY A Banks Peninsula farmhouse by Pattersons

62. BARE ESSENTIALS Our Home of the Year winner by Cheshire Architects

14 / HOME NEW ZEALAND

23.LOVELY CLUTTERRevamped Auckland café Good One

27.DESIGN FINDSCovetable design and homeware pieces

32.ALTERED STATESA new book on New Zealand state houses

34.ACCIDENTAL DESIGNER Yumiko Sekine of Japan's Fog Linen

36.MASTER AT WORKDirector Kenneth Love discusses his films on Frank Lloyd Wright

38.ARTFUL WASTEChristchurch's Whole House Reuse project

41.CHAIR APPARENTDining in with designer pieces

48.HIS WAYA New Zealand chef rules New York's Musket Room

54.HOTHOUSE FLOWERSNew-season fabrics feature spectacular autumnal blooms

140.MERGING IDEAS AND FORMJudge Amanda Levete chronicles her Home of the Year journey

145.WARM WELCOMEOur heating and insulation guide

154.SUBSCRIBESubscribe to HOME and receive a just-released design book

156.STYLE SAFARIHOME'S design tour

162.MY FAVOURITE BUILDINGOlivia McLeavey praises Wellington's Freyberg Pool

ART & DESIGN

EXTRAS

Inside The Musket Room, the New York restaurant co-owned by New Zealand chef Matt Lambert. Photography by Emily Andrews. For more, see p. 48.

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Small houses are a big thing in the 2014 Home of the Year award. The inspiring winning cabins on the Kaipara Harbour by Nat Cheshire of Cheshire Architects (p.62) have footprints of just 28 square metres each, while Andrew Simpson and Krysty Peebles’ petite Wellington home (p.104) is just two square metres bigger. Not that we’re biased towards small homes – the Home of the Year jury evaluates each entry on how it rises to the potential of its site and brief – but these diminutive, ingenious residences add a rich variety to the lineup of homes in this issue. It’s fantastic to see the benefits of great architecture being enjoyed equally by first-time homeowners and retirees.

We were honoured to have the Stirling Prize-winning architect Amanda Levete as the international member of our Home of the Year 2014 jury (Amanda travelled to New Zealand thanks to the support of our Home of the Year sponsor, Altherm Window Systems), and delighted so many of you came to her sold-out talks in Auckland and Christchurch about her remarkable work. One particular point she made in her talks has stuck with me: she discussed the importance of resist-ance in architecture, and how overcoming inevitable constraints is what makes architecture different to art. Her comment hints at the enormous persistence and determination it takes for an architect to create a suc-cessful building, when so many of the elements they are attempting to tame will never be fully controlled.

This persistence and determination is evident in every home in this issue. There must have been dif-ficult, oppressive moments in the creation of each of them, but the marvellous thing about our winner and five finalists is that none of them bear the scars of these struggles. In fact, all of them feel warm, harmonious and wonderfully humane, whatever their size. Jeremy Hansen, Editor

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Don't forget to check out the terrific short web film of the win-ning cabins we've made with Jeremy Toth (including aerial footage shot from a drone built by his brother Jared, which I can't stop being amazed by). You can see it on our blog, homenewzealand. blogspot.com. Also, more awards are on the way: in this issue, we're calling for entries to our annual furniture and homeware design awards (p.40). Each year this country's fur-niture designers seem to get more confident about their place in the world, with their savvy creations receiving increasing coverage in international media, and a local market becom-ing more aware of them and their work. We look forward to showing you their latest creations in our next issue, on news-stands in early June.

EDITOR’S LETTER

Get the latest onlinehomenewzealand.blogspot.com@homenewzealand @_jeremyhansenfacebook.com/home.nz.maginstagram.com/homenewzealand

HOME NEW ZEALAND / 17

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Editor Jeremy Hansen

Art Director Arch MacDonnell Inhouse Design

Senior Designer Sarah Gladwell Inhouse Design

Senior Stylist/Designer Kendyl Middelbeek

Stylist/Designer Samantha Totty

Designer Oliver Worsfold Inhouse Design

Editorial Assistant Fiona Williams

Contributors Jo Bates Sam Eichblatt Simon Farrell-Green Amelia Holmes Karlya Smith Emily Somerville Ryan Catherine Steel Photographers Emily Andrews Simon Devitt Sam Hartnett Russell Kleyn Paul McCredie Toaki Okano Patrick Reynolds Mike Rooke David Straight

Chief Executive Officer Paul Dykzeul

Publisher Lisa Ralph

Commercial Director Paul Gardiner

Group Sales & Marketing Manager Amber Ardern

Commercial Sales Manager Liezl Hipkins-Stear [email protected] +64 9 308 2873

Classified Advertising Kim Chapman [email protected] +64 7 578 3646

Brand Manager Ingrid Frisk [email protected] +64 9 308 2844

Events and Sponsorship Manager Jessica Allan

Financial Business Analyst Ferozza Patel

Group Production Manager Lisa Sloane

Production Co-ordinator Clare Pike

Editorial Office Bauer Media Group Shed 12, City Works Depot 90 Wellesley St Auckland New Zealand

Postal address HOME New Zealand Bauer Media Group Private Bag 92512 Wellesley Street Auckland 1141 New Zealand homenewzealand@ bauermedia.co.nz +64 9 308 2739

Subscription Enquiries www.magshop.co.nz 0800 MAGSHOP or 0800 624 746 [email protected] +64 9 308 2721 (Tel) +64 9 308 2769 (Fax)

Bulk/Corporate Subscriptions [email protected] +64 9 308 2700

Advertising Auckland Liezl Hipkins-Stear [email protected] +64 9 308 2873

Sydney Massey Archibald marchibald@ bauer-media.com.au +61 2 8268 6273

HOME New Zealand is subject to copyright in its entirety and the contents may not be reproduced in any form, either in whole or in part, without written permission of the publisher. All rights reserved in material accepted for publication, unless initially specified otherwise. All letters and other material for-warded to the magazine will be assumed intended for publication unless clearly labelled “not for publication”. We welcome submis-sions of homes that architects or owners would like to be considered for publication. Opinions expressed in HOME New Zealand are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of Bauer Media Group. No responsibility is accepted for unsolic-ited material. ABC average net circulation, 12 months to September 2013: 12,232 copies

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L U X U R Y R U G S

On our cover, a photograph by Jeremy Toth of the 2014 Home of the Year by Nat Cheshire of Cheshire Architects. For more, see p.62.

High St Auckland hoteldebrett.com

The Home of the Year 2014 jury travelled from Northland to Wanaka to visit the shortlisted homes.

On the road with our Home of the Year judges.

JURY DUTY

Our Home of the Year award comes with a first prize of $15,000 for the win-ning architects (thanks to our sponsor, Altherm Window Systems). With this much at stake, we take the judging process extremely seriously. I was joined on the Home of the Year jury this year by Stirling Prize-winning London architect Amanda Levete and Gary Lawson of Stevens Lawson Architects, four-time winners of the Home of the Year award. After examining the entries from our open entry process, we shortlisted nine homes for the award.

The next step was to hit the road. Amanda arrived with her husband, Ben Evans (the director of the London Design Festival), in early March, and over the next five days we visited homes in Northland, Auckland, Waiheke Island, Wellington, Canterbury and Wanaka.

The travel between all these des-tinations is a vital part of the judging process: it allows time for the homes to be examined and re-examined from every possible point of view. This may be the reason why making a final decision is never difficult – there’s plenty of time to reach a consensus. –Jeremy Hansen

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DARRYL WARDPhotographed the Home of the Year winner, two cabins on the Kaipara Harbour(p. 62)

The winning cabins are beauti-ful little objects. What were they like to photograph?Well, I normally avoid using wide angle lenses! Fortunately there were plenty of opportunities to look into, out of and straight through each of the houses in a relaxed manner, and I hope that feeling comes through in the images. I must also say, I am look-ing forward to returning to this property in 20 years’ time to see how the extensive native planting has evolved.

At just 28 square metres, they’re exceptionally petite. What did they make you think about the amount of space we generally occupy – and did they seem comfortable to you?I am a fan of the old Ministry of Works huts and alpine shelters and used to live in a small cold-water shack made out of car cases at Te Henga (Bethells’ beach) many years ago. You just learn to make it work within the spatial limitations presented, and of course whatever you’re cooking just tastes better when the kitchen set up is kept sim-ple! So while these two houses are petite and somewhat spartan in their initial appearance I find them exceptionally comfortable but in a no-fuss way.

What else are you working on at the moment?My day job is as a director of very short films called TV commercials.

CONTRIBUTORSEMILY ANDREWSOur New York-based photographer shot New Zealand chef Matt Lambert’s Manhattan restaurant (p.48)

Matt Lambert’s restaurant, The Musket Room, already has a Michelin star. What is it about the place that’s made it so successful in the competitive New York dining scene?It’s a skillful mix of what’s already popular here at the moment, with a warm rustic vibe but with enough restraint that it’s still quite elegant. It’s fine dining withoutbeing stuffy, and Matt’s exquisite food and presentation is amaz-ing. A feijoa liqueur at the bar one night was enough to win me over, quite frankly.

The interior looks beautiful. What was it like to photograph?It was a serene experience. It’s a very relaxing environment and the light is beautiful there during the day, which shows off the textures of the contrasting materials. The chefs were popping up from the kitchen every so often to water the garden out the back and grab a handful of herbs.

You’ve had a brutal winter over there. What are your plans now spring is finally arriving?I am looking forward to the sim-plest pleasures, like being outside again and enjoying it – there won’t be so much shoulder hunch-ing. And seeing green. It becomes hard to imagine when everything is sad and bare. And people get nicer – I’m looking forward to happier warm-weather vibes!

What else are you working on at the moment? I’m going to my first roller derby game this weekend. There’s this local Brooklyn team called ‘Gotham Girls’ and I’m going to photograph them playing their rival Queens team. I photograph a lot of interiors and still portraits, so shooting movement provides a nice contrast.

JEREMY TOTHShot our cover and a short film about the Home of the Year 2014, for our blog, homenewzealand.blogspot.com

The winning cabins sit in a field by the Kaipara Harbour like mysterious geometric boulders. What were they like to shoot for our web film?I had a blast capturing this project. [Architect] Nat Cheshire and I initially discussed doing it in an unconventional way, which seemed fitting for a rather uncon-ventional project. We didn’t want to shoot on a perfect day and instead chose almost storm-like weather, which just added to the atmospheric feel of the imagery. I wasn’t concerned about waiting for perfect light (even though we did get some) because the cabins read well whatever the conditions. It was refreshing to play with such stripped back forms in a raw envi-ronment. I loved playing with the abstract shapes, also the sym-metry that occurred between the two structures. I wanted to start the video by showing tight, cropped frames – almost to make the viewer question what they are looking at and slowly reveal these strange objects. What struck me with some of the footage was the almost apocalyptic feel to the imagery, as if you are the last per-son on earth because at times that is what it felt like – and these cab-ins would be the perfect refuge.

How did you take the aerial footage?It was captured by my brother Jared – he has been developing a multi-rotor drone over summer. We knew it would look fantastic but the challenge was the wind, as it is quite an exposed site but he managed to get some beautiful shots despite this. I’m very fortu-nate to have his skills and talents to draw on – I think the imagery he captured speaks for itself.

In 1931 Le Corbusier systemised his colour philosophy in a commercial collection of 12 ‘color keyboards’ a method, he wrote, “that makes it possible to plan, in the modern home, colour harmonies which are definitely architectural and yet suited to the natural taste and needs of the individual”

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—

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D:01


It could have gone so horribly wrong. Late last year, Coffee Supreme renovated their beloved Auckland flagship, Good One. On a shoestring budget of $25,000, they tripled its size and re-opened within three weeks. But given that Good One is the sort of place that people treat as an extension of their living room and office, regulars were nervous about change.

Some history: Good One opened on a quiet stretch of Ponsonby’s Douglas Street in 2008 and instantly became a classic. A century-old warehouse, it was built as part of Greers Manufacturing, who made many things over the years but finally settled on men’s shirts until they moved out in the 1970s. It has high ceilings and exposed wooden beams and lots of natu-ral light. You can enter through a small door onto the street or climb a ramp through the former loading bay, up past racks of coffee machines and into the main space. The cart dock also functions as an indoor-outdoor space where – and this is crucial for some customers – you are welcome to bring your dog.

Supreme moved here in 2005 when they first expanded into Auckland. Al Keating, then the compa-ny’s Auckland manager and now managing director of the whole business, found the space, stripped out the false ceilings, masked off the windows and sprayed the whole thing white. At one point, Coffee Supreme Auckland consisted of him, in the warehouse, with a

desk and a couch and the occasional punter knock-ing on the door to buy beans. “It didn’t work,” Keating says. “You can’t open up in Auckland without having a place you can sit people down and have a coffee.”

A crowded coffee market – there are now more than 150 roasters in New Zealand – means flagship spaces have become vital for roasters to burnish their brands. Architect Jessica Barter of the Auckland practice Bureaux came up with Good One’s first design. It was clever, yet rough-hewn: peg-board was used exten-sively, as was square steel piping and repurposed industrial furniture. Keating – who trained in industrial design at Unitec – designed small, brightly coloured metal stools for the single central table.

Several thousand copies of National Geographic bought from estate sales around the country lined the walls with yellow. The warehouse and workshop out the back gave the space a sense of industri-ous activity. It broke all the rules of hospitality in Auckland, tucked away down a quite side street with very few parking spots.

“Cafés were different at the time,” Keating says now. “[The prevailing style] was all very Ponsonby Road: big glass windows and chrome and beige and brown.” Good One didn’t have a kitchen, or windows onto the street to allow crowd-conscious Aucklanders to see and be seen. But it felt like a discovery, was

LOVELY CLUTTERAuckland café Good One reinvents itself with a smart, back-to-basics revamp.

TEXT / Simon Farrell-GreenPHOTOGRAPHY / David Straight

Above The cafe, in a century-old warehouse in the inner-city Auckland suburb of Ponsonby, takes its accents of vivid yellow from the sizeable National Geographic collection inside.

Above right Supreme's managing director Al Keating.

Calder opted to split the place into three zones demar-cated by half-height walls. The former boiler room of the factory is now a windowless cave with a brewbar for coffee geeks and there is a dedicated space to buy beans. Coffee comes from a Slayer espresso machine, or from a Fetco CBS-2131 which can brew litres of single-origin coffee at a time, served in white railway cups made by Studio Ceramics.

Wisely, Calder kept things simple, almost brutal, relying on all the “lovely clutter” of the cafe to soften the rawness of the building. Still, he was nervous the day they reopened when a regular came up the ramp and saw his original seat had disappeared in the revamp. He paused, found a new space and sat down. He has sat there every day since.

described as “very Wellington” or “very Melbourne” and showed what the city could do down side streets in previously unloved buildings. Five years later, the place was bursting at the seams. New business man-ager Jonny Calder and Keating moved the warehouse to nearby Newton and set about refitting Good One as a standalone cafe with that $25,000 (Keating now admits it was actually $30,000, but he never told Calder this), a builder and a brief that involved not applying for further consents.

Calder designed the refit on Google Sketchup and worked collaboratively with builder James McNaughton, an old mate (they lost a day of work when McNaughton was away on a modelling shoot; it’s very Supreme to hire a hipster builder). They re-used virtually all of the old fitout.

“He’s just really clever,” says Calder of McNaughton. “We spent less than $1000 on materials because we recycled everything. It was quite nice to recycle instead of filling three skip bins out front and then bringing in three van loads of stuff.”

The new Good One is much bigger and awash with natural light which spills in through skylights. The walls are white with yellow accents inspired by the National Geographic collection. There are three big communal tables, and yet the place has the same sense of cosiness to it, mainly thanks to the fact that

Good One 42 Douglas Street, Ponsonby, Auckland 09 376 2784 coffeesupreme.com

Left By using virtually all the old fitout, from the peg board to the custom tiles behind the counter, only $1000 was spent on materials for the refit.

Right In the reworked space, there's now a dedicated corner for coffee and coffee makers.

Above right Bought from garage sales, second-hand book-shops and online, the National Geographic collection now numbers about 4500.

Bottom right Three different and demar-cated areas create a sense of cosiness in the converted warehouse.



1 / 'Avenue' umbrella, $49.90 from Citta, cittadesign.com 2 / PET lamps by Alvaro Catalán de Ocón, from $494 each, from Backhouse, backhousenz.com 3 / 'Splash' tray by Fine Little Day, $129 from The Flock, theflock.co.nz 4 / Workshop trestle by Object Support, $402.50 a pair from Museum Workshop,

museumworkshop.co.nz 5 / 'Sella' stool by Achille Castiglioni and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni for Zanotta, $1890 from Studio Italia, studioitalia.co.nz 6 / Vintage French display case, $1350 from Flotsam and Jetsam, flotsamandjetsam.co.nz 7 / Leica X2 'à la carte' camera, $3359 from Photo Warehouse, photowarehouse.co.nz

8 / Cushion by Skinny Laminx, $85 from The Flock, theflock.co.nz 9 / Baggu leather pouch, $98 from The Flock, theflock.co.nz Edited by Amelia Holmes.

Pep up your life with rainbow-hued

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for Menu, $49 from Simon James, store.simonjamesdesign.com 6 / Wall relief in copper by Gidon Bing, $2400 from Simon James Concept Store, store.simonjamesdesign.com 7 / Wooden tasting spoons, $79 for eight from Tessuti, shop.tessuti.co.nz 8 / Cushion, $75 from Siggada, siggada.co.nz 9 /'Wow' screen by Maurizio Galante and Tal Lancman,

$2192 from Backhouse, backhousenz.com 10 /Japanese bath towel, $47 from Everyday Needs, everyday-needs.com Edited by Amelia Holmes.

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Everyday Needs, everyday-needs.com 8 / 'Teardrop Number #2' pendant by Pieces of Eight, $179 from The Flock, theflock.co.nz 9 / Dustpan and brush, $65 from Everyday Needs, everyday-needs.com 10 / Concertina shelving, $2190 from Citta, cittadesign.com Edited by Amelia Holmes.

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HOME You say state houses are a neglected aspect of our architec-tural history. Why?BILL MCKAY, CO-AUTHOR Ubiquity is one reason. The first Labour government built 30,000 in 10 years: they are all around us and have seemed part of the

background. Also, the perceived lack of architectural merit. In terms of design they seemed old-fashioned even when they were built, because Modernism was starting to take off in the 1940s and these designs were products of the late 1930s. Few people realise just how poor living conditions were in the 1930s and state houses raised standards.

Architecturally, how do you rate state houses? They did what we take for granted. They were the first houses oriented to the sun, they were efficiently laid out, had indoor toilets and laun-dries, lots of built-in storage and enough bedrooms for everyone. To the average New Zealander, they were good. And when I say average Kiwi, I mean that. State houses then were not built for welfare purposes, they aimed to solve a housing shortage and the inhabitants were working-class families.

To generalise, were they better quality than housing built in large quantities today? They really are

well built. No pine framing – all native timber, not that we would cut down indigenous forests for that any more. But nice tongue-and-groove timber floors, solid foundations, good wiring and plumbing, timber weatherboard or brick cladding and a small mountain of concrete tiles for the roof. Even after 70 years, that native timber hasn’t wilted under the roof load.

Why are more people buying for-mer state houses? It has been said by Te Ara, The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand no less, that people want some-thing safe and sound after the leaky homes issue. I think it’s because people are moving into old state-house sub-urbs. State housing wasn’t just about houses, but planning communities. A state house is often in a quiet street with reduced traffic as well as being close to shops, a school and a park.

ALTEREDSTATESA new book pays tribute to the sturdy New Zealand state house.INTERVIEW / Jeremy HansenPHOTOGRAPHY / Simon Devitt

Far left Beyond the State features both renovated and largely untouched state houses, such as this one in Palmerston North's Savage Crescent.

Left A range of architec-tural styles were used in the state homes of Savage Crescent in Palmerston North's Garden Suburb.

Below Once in private hands, decorative fea-tures such as shutters and fretwork were added to homes.

Beyond the State, by Andrea Stevens and Bill McKay, with photographs by Simon Devitt. Penguin, $75.


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HOME You had a roundabout approach to starting your company. Tell me about that. YUMIKO SEKINE When I graduated, I worked for a fur-niture company in Tokyo, visiting their factories in the Philippines and also European furniture fairs. I learned a lot from my experience there, but after two years I quit my job and worked for a foreign bookstore, where I started selling used books from New York – mostly vintage illustrated children’s books for cooking, with graphics that were interesting to graphic design-ers. I also sold wire baskets made in Mexico, and then started looking for linen. I visited Lithuania without realising it was a place to grow flax and make linen for export. I tried to call places that seemed to make linen products but most of them didn’t speak English and just hung up. Only one or two could contact me, and one of them is the one I’m now working with.

Why did you want to work with linen? My parents liked to use linen at home so it felt natural to me to have linen products in my collection. French linen was too expensive and the size was bigger than we need for everyday use in small Japanese houses. Originally I didn’t plan to create my own designs but the Lithuanian supplier only sent me some small samples of fabric, so I made some sketches and sent them back and asked him to produce kitchen towels. I wasn’t sure if I could sell them or what the quality could be, but they sold immediately. I opened my store in 1999, the next year.

You now export to 40 countries. It’s not bad for an accidental designer. I’ve never made any plans for my business, and I still don’t think I’m a designer. I intend to make my products without design. They have patterns but they just need to be simple and functional – they don’t need additional design. I just make things I want to use at home.

ACCIDENTAL DESIGNERFog Linen’s founder, Yumiko Sekine, brings more of her beautifully simple homeware to Father Rabbit’s new Auckland store.

Father Rabbit 232 Jervois Road

Herne Bay, Auckland 09 360 2573 fatherrabbit.com

Below Items on display at Father Rabbit's new store in the Auckland suburb of Herne Bay.

Below right Yumiko Sekine worked for a furniture company, then sold second-hand books before creating linen homeware.

Bottom Handkerchiefs, tea-towels and bags are some of the Fog Linen pieces sold at Father Rabbit.


INTERVIEW / Jeremy HansenPHOTOGRAPHY / David Straight

backhousenz.com

Auckland: 19 Earle St, Parnell, Auckland t: 09 309 0500 e: [email protected]: 12 Kaiwharawhara Rd, Wellington t: 04 499 8847 e: [email protected]

NEW LIGHTING COLLECTIONS“In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary.” – Aaron Rose

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HOME Where does your interest in Frank Lloyd Wright and his work stem from? KENNETH LOVE, DIRECTOR My first visit to Fallingwater was in 1969 with my family. At that time, visitors could walk down the rock stairs to the base of the falls below the house. I remember having great fun as we splashed in the cold, swift stream. The next time was by chance in 1982. My friend needed help to film “some man at Fallingwater”. That man turned out to be Edgar Kaufmann Jr. His interview was eloquent; his insight sparked my imagi-nation. I was in awe of the setting and architecture. I think it had something to do with having just spent six weeks in a very basic camp on the shores of Lake Tanganyika [filming Jane Goodall in Tanzania for National Geographic]. Fallingwater screened in the last Resene Architecture and Design Film Festival. What led to your film in this festival, Frank Lloyd Wright and Japanese Art?

The second National Geographic TV special I worked on was The Living Treasures of Japan (1980). Living and working in Japan made a deep impres-sion and I wanted to explore Mr Wright’s connections with Japanese aesthetics. When we filmed Fallingwater, I thought about Kiyomizu-dera Temple in Kyoto. I could see these connections when I read about Wright. There are many layers to his connections with Japan. In the film he said, “I have never confided to you the extent to which the Japanese print has inspired me. I never got over my first experience with it and I shall never probably recover.”

What lessons can Wright’s work and approach to architecture in general still teach us? Every time I go to Fallingwater and I go frequently – I spent three 12-hour days there this week – I’m struck by how fresh it looks. When you round the bend and see the house it’s like you are discovering it for the first time. It’s because of the setting and how it affects our lives.

MASTER AT WORKDirector Kenneth Love pays homage to Frank Lloyd Wright’s connections with Japanese art and culture in the Resene Architecture and Design Film Festival.INTERVIEW / Jeremy Hansen

HOME is proud to support the Resene Architecture and Design Film Festival, running in Auckland, May 8-21; Wellington, May 29-June 11; and Dunedin, June 12-22. For more information, visit rialto.co.nz.

Top A still from Frank Lloyd Wright and Japanese Art, a film exploring the master architect's fascination with Japanese culture.

Above Architect Frank Lloyd Wright (right) and his work has been a keen focus of Love's since he visited Fallingwater as a child.

Right Fallingwater, Wright's masterpiece in rural Pennsylvania. Love is now working on a 3D version of his film Fallingwater.


VRX model pictured. 1. Fuel economy fi gures are offi cial results based on test regime ADR81/02. 2. According to the Energy Effi ciency and Conservation Authority: EECA advised off-peak electricity rate of 15c/kWh. 3. EECA advised daily commute. 4. Price listed is for the XLS model and excludes On Road Costs of $750 which includes Registration. WoF and a tank of fuel.

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HOME What is the story behind the Whole House Reuse project, and how does it all work?KATE MCINTYRE, WHOLE HOUSE REUSE

PROJECT DIRECTOR Demolition waste is one of the most significant landfill contributors in New Zealand and a minimum of 10,000 homes are scheduled for destruction as a result of the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes. Demolition throughout the country is set to increase with the implementation of new earth-quake safety standards, and it’s usually achieved with a digger that crushes and removes everything in a quick and tightly scheduled time frame. Instigated by Rekindle, Whole House Reuse involves deconstruct-ing one beloved Red Zone home in New Brighton piece by piece, then applying diverse creative processes to transform it into an array of purpose-ful artefacts. It's an opportunity to respect the previous life of the home, as well as to prove value can be derived from its substance.

What will happen to all those materials?Over the first half of 2014, our cata-logue of materials will be pored over by creatives throughout the country who will design works using materials from the demolished house. We are asking for works that have a purpose or use – outcomes could be anything from a wooden spoon or tiny piece of jewel-lery through to a boat or sub-consent structure. Submissions will go through a selection process. We are also asking for all off-cuts from each design, which, along with any unrequested materials, will go into our ‘Left-overs Workshops’ – a collaborative process which will seek solutions for their use. It’s hard to predict how many works might arise, but we are guessing in excess of 150. We believe this is the first time the creative reuse of an entire home has been undertaken. The exhibition will take place later this year.

ARTFUL WASTEKicking off in Christchurch, the Whole House Reuse project is a creative response to the increasing problem of demolition waste.INTERVIEW / Jeremy HansenPHOTOGRAPHY / Guy Frederick

Interested designers can submit proposals for items from the Whole House Reuse project. Proposals are due May 28, 2014. For more information, visit wholehousereuse.co.nz

Below Each piece of the hand-demolished Christchurch home is catalogued before being offered for re-use.

Right Unlike thousands of quake-damaged homes, this Red Zone house in Brighton was spared a swift demolition by digger.

Below right Kate McIntyre is the project director of Whole House Reuse, a creative response to demolition waste.


RIALTO CINEMAS NEWMARKET DUNEDIN www.rialto.co.nz THE EMBASSY WELLINGTON www.events.co.nz

AUCKLAND 8-21 May | WELLINGTON 29 May - 11 June | DUNEDIN 12-22 June

Gold Sponsors

TERMS AND CONDITIONS: Entrants are welcome to submit items of furniture or other designs for the home. All objects entered must have been completed or first released in 2013/2014. Instructions of how to enter form part of the terms and conditions of entry. Entry implies acceptance of the terms and conditions. The competition is open to anyone residing in New Zealand, except the employees of Bauer Media Group, their immediate families, dealers and agents. Bauer Media Group reserves the right to photograph, film and otherwise record all entries and judging processes, including designers, manufacturers and any associated parties for promotional and/or publicity purposes. Collaborative projects must be supplied at the time of entry by listing all of the parties involved. It is the responsibility of entrants to seek the consent of those parties. Entrants should note on their entries whether they consider themselves eligible for the Young Designer of the Year award (which means the object entered must have been completed as part of study for a tertiary design course in 2013. The designer of the object must be under 30 years of age as of January 1, 2014). Entries must be received by 5pm on Tuesday April 15, 2014. The winner and finalists will have their work published in the June/July 2014 issue of HOME New Zealand. The judge’s decision is final. No correspondence may be entered into. P

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SEND ENTRIES TO [email protected]

MAIL Design Awards, HOME New Zealand, Bauer Media Group, Private Bag 92512, Wellesley Street, Auckland 1141

COURIER Design Awards, HOME New Zealand, Bauer Media Group, Shed 12, Cityworks Depot, 77 Cook Street, Auckland 1010

All entries must be received by 5pm on Tuesday April 15, 2014. A judging panel will choose finalists to view in person before choosing the winner. The works of the winner and finalists will be published in our June/July 2014 issue.

Our Design Awards 2014 seeks the most exciting new furniture and objects for the home. This includes ceramics, glassware and tableware or any similar item that can be displayed and used in an interior setting. Entries are welcome from established artists and designers, as well as newcomers to the field.

Entrants must submit up to five images (from a variety of angles) of the furniture or objects they have designed with a 250-word statement about the project and its designers. We’ll also choose a Young Designer of the Year from entrants whose work was completed during a tertiary design course in 2013.

Enter our search for New Zealand’s best new furniture and homeware.

A 2013 Design Awards finalist entry included the side table, coffee table and dining table by David Moreland Design, davidmorelanddesign.com

enter now

Design awards

2014


1 / 'Osso' chair by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec for Mattiazzi, $1815 from ECC, ecc.co.nz 2 / 'Monster' chair by Marcel Wanders for Moooi, $4105 from ECC, ecc.co.nz 3 / 'Owens' chair by Rodolfo Dordoni for Minotti, $POA from ECC, ecc.co.nz 4 / '4a chair' by Michael Young for EOQ, $1088 from Simon James Design, simonjamesdesign.com 5 / 'Colette' chair by Roberto Lazzeroni for Baxter, $4191 from Cavit & Co, cavitco.com 6 / 'Felix' chair by Simon

James, $802 from Simon James Design, simonjamesdesign.com 7 / 'London' chair, $504 from BoConcept, boconcept.com 8 / 'EJ2 Eyes' chair by Foersom & Hiort-Lorenzen for Erik Jørgensen, $2085 from Corporate Culture, corporateculture.co.nz Edited by Kendyl Middelbeek.

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CHAIR APPARENT

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1 / 'PP250 Valet' chair by Hans J Wegner for PP Mobler, from $16,980 from Corporate Culture, corporateculture.co.nz 2 / 'Urban Loom' chair by Jakob Berg for Feelgood Designs, $680 from Backhouse, backhousenz.com 3 / 'Domicile Cresent' chair by Michael Varnderbyl for Bolier, $1723 from Cavit & Co, cavitco.com 4 / 'Gentle' chair by Front for Porro, $1790 from Studio Italia,

studioitalia.co.nz 5 / 'Elementary' chair by Jamie McLellan for Feelgood Designs, $538 from Backhouse, backhousenz.com 6 / 'C603' chair by Yuzuru Yamakawa for Feelgood Designs, $521 from Backhouse, backhousenz.com 7 / 'CH29' chair by Hans J Wegner for Carl Hansen & Son, $1475 from Corporate Culture, corporateculture.co.nz 8 / 'Chair 170' by Takahashi Asako for Feelgood Designs, $575 from Backhouse, backhousenz.com 9 / 'CH33' chair by Hans J Wegner for Carl Hansen & Son, $1170 from Corporate Culture, corporateculture.co.nz

10 /'Eva' chair by Ora Ïto for Zanotta, $3930 from Studio Italia, studioitalia.co.nz Edited by Kendyl Middelbeek.

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What does a Private Banker do? DONNA HARPUR-SWAIN, ASB REGIONAL MANAGER,

PRIVATE BANKING A Private Banker is a dedicated and experienced expert in banking who looks after clients on a one-on-one basis. They work to discuss financial goals with clients and develop a plan for achieving these by offering access to expert services including managing your wealth, protecting your lifestyle and assets, and managing your daily banking requirements. When should I consider using one?If you earn over $250,000 a year or if you have lending or investments over $1 million. What are the benefits of working with an ASB Private Banker? You get on-call, personal one-on-one service at your convenience – at your home, office or over coffee in a cafe. We work with you to help you achieve your financial goals, and you have a direct phone number to your

Private Banker and their associate. We can also connect you with specialised teams of risk and wealth managers so you know your assets are always well-managed and protected. Do I need to be currently banking with ASB to have access to an ASB Private Banker? Not at all. We’re happy to come and visit you and show you what we can do for you, and how we can make it easy for you to work with an ASB Private Banker. If I want to change banks to utilise a Private Banker’s services, can ASB make it easy to do so? Absolutely – not just in ASB Private Banking but any division of ASB, we make it easy to change banks. In all these areas, we do the hard work for you.

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Q&A with Donna Harpur-Swain, ASB Regional Manager, Private Banking

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1 / 'Hee' chair by Hee Welling for Hay, $405 from Corporate Culture, corporateculture.co.nz 2 / 'Marstal' chair, $499 from BoConcept, boconcept.com 3 / 'Harmony' chair by Rodrigo Torres for Poliform, $1490 from Studio Italia, studioitalia.co.nz 4 / Erik Buch chair, $4200 for six from Mr Bigglesworthy, mrbigglesworthy.co.nz 5 / 'London' chair in leather,

$1195 from BoConcept, boconcept.com 6 / 'Fan' dining chair by Tom Dixon, $1490 from ECC, ecc.co.nz 7 / 'Weave' chair by Douglas and Bec with Sam Orme-Gee, $1490 from Douglas and Bec, douglasandbec.co.nz 8 / 'Cuoio' chair by EOOS for Walter Knoll, $1809 from Matisse, matisse.co.nz 9 / 'Feel Good' chair by Antonio Citterio for Flexiform, $4800

from Studio Italia, studioitalia.co.nz 10 / 'Eva' chair by Ora Ïto for Zanotta, $4450 from Studio Italia, studioitalia.co.nz Edited by Kendyl Middelbeek.

NUTURED BY NATUREThe sophisticated Corian® Organics range exemplifies streamlined design with unique patterns and neutral tones.

HOME What is Corian® Organics all about? NICKY DUGGAN, EVOLUTION

OF SURFACES DIRECTOR The Corian® Organics range is exactly that – organic natural patterns in a range of sophisticated neutrals, where the movement or pattern on each sheet is unique, while still maintaining consistency in the overall colour and look. The Corian® Organics range is the most premium range within the total Corian® colour palette and has some of our most popular colours. The colour featured in this gorgeous kitchen by Nichola Blakely is Corian® Rain Cloud and the stunning Minosa basin is Corian® Venaro White.

Where do you suggest it is used?Corian® is generally used as a benchtop, so definitely kitchens and bathrooms. Corian® sinks and basins are also available, which, when integrated into a Corian® benchtop, provide an even more seamless look. I’m seeing more interiors where a consistent look and feel is used throughout the house, such as luxurious bathrooms that visually link to the design and products used in the kitchen. Even laundries these days seem to be included in the total design scheme.

ADVERTISING PROMOTION

Is it hard-wearing? It sure is. Corian® is made from 2/3 natural minerals and 1/3 pure acrylic, resulting in a super-hard wearing product – while feeling surprisingly soft and warm to touch. It’s non-porous, so stains and marks are less of an issue (great news if you enjoy a glass of red wine) and when it looks clean, it really is clean. At any point a professional fabricator can come in and re-sand and re-buff it – making it look just like new. Although, with regular use and cleaning, a beautiful patina develops naturally over time. Corian® is also usually repairable on site. I had a call recently from a lady who has had her Corian® benchtop for over 20 years. She loves it, but wants to update the round edges with a more modern square edge. An Authorised Corian® Fabricator can do that on site for her with very little hassle.

How can I see more of the range?Please talk to your designer or architect. They will have samples in their product library. Our new website at corian.co.nz also has a great range of product, kitchen and bathroom images.

For more information, call us on 0800 267 426 or visit corian.co.nz.


Left Designer Nichola Blakely (for Kitchens By Design) chose Corian® Rain Cloud for this thoroughly modern kitchen.

Above The sleek design of the Minosa basin in Corian® Venaro White. Photograph by Minosa Design, minosadesign.com.

Nichola Blakely Design 027 455 2043 nicholablakely.com

Evolution of Surfaces 0800 267 426 corian.co.nz

HOME What prompted your choice of colours and design?EMILY SOMERVILLE-RYAN, STYLIST I have a very old diamond print fabric that was given to me in a pile of remnants handed down from my grandmother. When I was briefed to paint a wall in natural tones for the Resene Colour Challenge, it became a starting point of influence. The colours are subtle but unexpected, which gives the combination a surprising freshness. I think they work well and now I want it in my house!

Tell us about the furnishings and accessories used within your design setting? Harlequin clowns spring to mind when I see diamond designs. So I’ve chosen pieces with humorous circus connotations such as the concertina shaped ‘Ergo’ stool, the pawn piece Eames stool and the hammer-like ‘Fork’ lamp. Rather than static furniture, the objects look more like characters about to perform on stage. Black, wood and cream tones work as a calm contrast to the entertaining background.

Take our lead and bring rooms to life with Resene fashion colours. Trends for 2014 reference rich historical hues – pair them with pretty pastels for balance and you have the most coveted colour trends of the year. Resene The Range fashion colours come complete with complementary colour suggestions.

ADVERTISING PROMOTION / HOME + RESENE

Resene shows you how to celebrate the diamond life in your own home.

STYLING / Emily Somerville-Ryan PHOTOGRAPHY / Mike Rooke

Resenecolourchallenge


‘Weave’ chair by Douglas and Bec with Sam Orme-Gee, $1490 from Douglas and Bec, douglasandbec.co.nz. ‘Fork’ lamp by Diesel for Foscarini, $2188.77, ‘Shape B’ Eames stool in walnut for Herman Miller, $2095, ‘Ergo’ stool by ErgoErgo, $218.50, ‘Cité’ armchair by Jean Prouvé for Vitra, $5852, all from Matisse, matisse.co.nz. Triangular and octagonal trivets in marble by Fort Standard, $110 each, and round and pentagonal candle-stick holders in marble by Fort Standard, $92 each, all from Douglas and Bec, douglasandbec.co.nz

ReseneEnvy

ResenePale Oyster

ReseneAthens Grey

ReseneMystic

ReseneCloudy

Resene Lynch

TEXT / Sam Eichblatt PHOTOGRAPHY / Emily Andrews

Working from a beautiful Nolita space, a New Zealand chef in New York earns a Michelin star with breathtaking haste.


In New York, behind The Musket Room’s clubby, white-painted entrance, New Zealand chef and co-owner Matt Lambert carries out his work in a spotlessly well-ordered kitchen. Out the front, the unfussy, folksy and rather beautiful dining room combines mid-century references with vivid aquamarine banquettes, brass light fittings and exposed brick.

Just six months after opening, the 65-seat Nolita eatery has already earned itself a Michelin star and a round of positive reviews from the usually persnickety New York food press. You’d be forgiven for picturing the boss as a gimlet-eyed, alpha-type personality with

control issues and an elevator pitch on the culinary sorcery propelling his restaurant to its current success.

Instead, there’s a jovial, self-described “boy from Henderson”, who will cheerfully point out the gouges in the wall of the now-chic cocktail bar where he and one of his sous chefs smashed off all the old concrete with hammers. “There were layers that had been on there since the 1920s,” he says. “Knocking it off was really cool.”

This lack of preciousness is the ethos that under-pins the whole enterprise. The chef’s brief to design firm Alexander Waterworth Interiors included images of the dishes The Musket Room would offer.

Left Mirroring chef Matt Lambert's unpreten-tious personality, interior designer Alexander Waterworth decided to strip back the building and expose the bricks while filling the interior with grace-ful bespoke pieces. The chairs, a take on a clas-sic Wegner design, were picked up in Brooklyn.

Right Nods to chef Matt Lambert's New Zealand roots are subtle but omni-present, from the musket-wars reference in the restaurant's name, to the modern New Zealand cuisine he serves.

His way


“Seeing that incredibly detailed food would paint a very different picture to who Matt really is,” says the designer. “We wanted to create a space that worked with the food but also captured Matt’s hugely unpretentious personality.”

Stripping the building to its original state, expos-ing bricks and mortar, and using timber flooring reclaimed from an old barn in New York state was part of that. Formerly a “restaurant-bar trying to be a nightclub”, the space was dark and uninviting, though its biggest taste crime was the shonky roof over the courtyard at the back of the property. Waterworth removed that to make a pretty, atmospheric garden where diners can now spot Lambert pottering around with his scissors, harvesting herbs.

The garden also allows natural light to illumi-nate the intimate series of dining spaces from front and back. On midwinter days, snow piles up on the windowsills, the raised beds of the garden and, less congruously, a small wooden shed. “Of course we built a shed,” says Lambert. “Because that’s totally Kiwi!”

True to form, Lambert's big vision is to do whatever he wants. “That’s the truthful answer,” he laughs. “I can try to put names on things but, really, I’m just having fun.”

The fun of owning and running your own New York restaurant without answering to anyone, at the ripe old age of 33, is the crest of a long climb for Lambert. He loved cooking with his mother and grandmother, and chose the chef’s life early on, apprenticing himself to west Auckland institution The Falls at age 11. “Once I was old enough to start washing dishes, I did,” he says. “I was a child working in a kitchen, so it probably took some patience on their part. But that’s where it all started.”

Later, he cooked at Wellington’s Dockside, one of the busiest restaurants in the country, but his epiph-any happened back in Auckland, where he worked next door to Michael Meredith (then wearing the toque at Vinnie’s in Herne Bay) and subsequently moved with him to The Grove – where he also met

Right The designers' objective was to source items from New York state, from the rough-hewn timber flooring reclaimed from an old barn in New York state to bespoke pieces, such as the 5.5 metre live-edge walnut bar top and tables.


Barbara, his American wife and co-owner of the Musket Room. “I was her souvenir of New Zealand,” he jokes.

After a stint cooking in Connecticut, he joined the AvroKO group, where he worked for Michelin-starred PUBLIC, its sister restaurant Double Crown, and Saxon + Parole over the course of four years – but the end goal was always having his own place.

His food can be defined as “modern New Zealand cuisine”, he says, and draws heavily on home-grown salmon, venison, wagyu and biodynamic wine. A deconstructed steak and cheese pie, and “red deer with flavours of gin” (fennel, celeriac, juniper and liquorice) are two of the most talked-about dishes.

While neither would be completely unexpected to those familiar with the culinary stylings of Michael Meredith, Martin Bosley or Geoff Scott, Lambert's emphasis on freshness and lack of affection for empty carbs and the heavy seasonings characteristic of the New York palate have given The Musket Room an edge over many of the city’s other new openings.

“I’m proud to be doing this, because New Zealand isn’t – I won’t say ‘well-represented’ because it’s just not represented at all. It’s not like it is in England,” he says – though he gives props for flying our flag to expat pub Nelson Blue and DUB Pies, which recently celebrated a decade in the meat-pie business.

“Our food culture is in such infant stages. Older countries, like Italy or Sweden, how long have they had, man? Thousands of years! I’ve seen our food change so much over the last 20 years. Without sound-ing like a douche, we’re shaping history, and hopefully it will keep evolving and become a quintessential part of what we do.”

When the Michelin star arrived, a mere four months in, it was one of the happiest moments in his life.

“We did a champagne toast at the evening staff line-up and I cried like a baby, eh! That’s why I came to New York. When you cook, there’s not much to show how hard you’ve worked to others. You miss a lot of other people’s lives because you’re cooking them eggs. So when there’s an accolade like a Michelin star, you remember this is what it was all for, you know? I wasn’t just fucking around in the kitchen.”

Top left Since remov-ing the shonky roof placed over the court-yard, natural light illuminates this dining space. And now Lambert has his own little backyard where diners can see him pottering around pick-ing herbs for the kitchen.

Left The addition of a shed was a must for Lambert, the self-described "boy from Henderson" in Auckland's western suburbs.

The Musket Room 265 Elizabeth Street, New York +1 212 219 0764 musketroom.com

Right The simple, yet elegant brass lights in the main dining room were designed by Alexander Waterworth Interiors and made nearby, just 15 minutes from the restaurant.

Far right Mid-century influences run through custom-made designs, such as the glass cabinet, which was made across the river.

Below right The contrast of modern concrete tiles cut into the old timber floor-boards make a feature at the bar, an area the designers consider a "great theatre for customers".


CONCEPT AND STYLING / Karlya SmithPHOTOGRAPHY / Toaki Okano

This season’s fabrics are full of autumnal harvest hues.

Hothouse flowers

Left ‘Kampala’ linen by Sette from Atelier, atelier.co.nz (left); ‘Mulu Trellis’ cotton/linen mix by Villa Nova from James Dunlop, jamesdunlop.co.nz.

This page From left: ‘Candy Stick’ cotton by Malabar from Atelier, atelier.co.nz; Leaf print in cotton from Martha’s, marthas.co.nz; ‘Metropolis’ linen/viscose mix by Mokum Textiles from James Dunlop, jamesdunlop.co.nz.

From left: ‘Pongee Crystal’ rayon/linen mix by Barbara Barry for Kravet Couture from Warwick Fabrics, warwick.co.nz; ‘Designs of the Time’ linen by Khum from James Dunlop, jamesdunlop.co.nz; ‘Kendal’ linen/cotton/nylon mix by Colefax & Fowler from Atelier Textiles, atelier.co.nz; ‘Viale’ linen byLoving Linen from Textilia, textilia.co.nz; ‘Valentine’ linen from Del Campo by Soleil Bleu from Seneca Textiles, seneca.co.nz.

From left: ‘Ocean’ linen by James Dunlop from James Dunlop, jamesdunlop.co.nz; ‘Ortega Stone’ linen/cotton mix by Romo from Seneca Textiles, seneca.co.nz; ‘Raphael 2120’ cotton/linen mix by Villa Nova from James Dunlop, jamesdunlop.co.nz; ‘Perseus’ wool/nylon mix from James Dunlop, jamesdunlop.co.nz. S

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62.The Home of the

Year 2014 by Cheshire Architects

76.A Canterbury farmhouse by

Pattersons

90.A Whangarei Heads

holiday home by Herbst Architects

104.Andrew

Simpson's tiny Wellington home

116.Lovell & O'Connell Architects get to work in Wanaka

128.A Waiheke Island home by Wendy

Shacklock

home—— OF THE ——

year

essentialsBare

TEXT / Jeremy Hansen PHOTOGRAPHY / Darryl Ward

The 2014 Home of the Year award goes to a pair of tiny, dark and wonderfully poetic cabins on the Kaipara Harbour that propose new ways

of living in the New Zealand landscape.

Nat Cheshire of Cheshire Architects designed these almost- identical cabins for separate owners on a shared plot of land. The exterior timber was charred before installation.

OF THE YEAR

WINNER

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 gas stove and running water so they could take turns to stay there, but soon decided to ask Nat Cheshire of Cheshire Architects to design a little cabin for each of them.

The cabins, which collectively take the title of the 2014 Home of the Year, each have a footprint of just 28 square metres. Each of them is entirely off the grid, with a little bathroom (although both cabins’ showers are outdoors), a kitchen (with a small fridge, gas hob

and DishDrawer), a sparsely furnished sitting area and a sleeping loft. Each has two large windows, one functioning as an entrance, the other framing inlet views, while wooden hatches allow ventilation of the bathroom and sleeping areas. A window in each cabin’s ceiling allows a view of the stars at night. The interior of one of the cabins is covered in honey-coloured ply; the other is inky black.

These little buildings, with their air of thoughtful austerity, are among the few contemporary structures that can boast a genuine lineage to New Zealand’s bach heritage. There is something profound about their modesty. They are proud to display the beauty



Left Rather than recede apologetically into the landscape, Cheshire's intent was for these structures to stand as bold objects of intrigue.

Above right In one of the cabins, a brass kitchen is like a luxurious jewel among the cheap form ply interior.

"I wanted friends to be able to visit a place like this and instantly understand what living in this part of the world brings."

One of the cabins has an all-black interior, which features a bed by Donald Judd and vintage furniture. The twig mobile above the bed is by Eleanor Cooper. The sleeping loft is on the mezzanine level above this space.

Left Both cabins have toilets inside, but their showers are outside with views of the inlet and distant hills.

Right The sleeping loft features an artwork by Julian Dashper and a window that offers a view of the sky.

that fill them. The cabins are only the second stand-alone residence for Cheshire, but the owners liked the idea of working with someone their age, and of utilis-ing a superior talent in the early stages of his career.

The owners’ limited budgets meant larger dwell-ings were never going to be feasible, but neither were they required. Cheshire says the project was partly conceived as “a reaction against the wasteful way we occupy land in this country”. Ironically, the dis-trict plan allowed for a home of approximately 1,500 square metres to be erected on the site, but because they counted as two dwellings, special consent was required for these tiny cabins.

At their second meeting, Cheshire presented the owners with a model very close to what was eventu-ally built. The idea of these structures occupying the land lightly became metaphorical as well as literal: In the long grass, Cheshire hoped the cabins might feel “like boats tied up at moorings in a slow-motion ocean – the idea that one might be adrift above the land was important.” As objects, they are extraordinarily beautiful, their impassive faces registering minute changes in light throughout the day.

Despite their diminutive size, Cheshire did not want the cabins to recede apologetically into the landscape but to be bold, intriguing objects that “invoke the kind of dislocation that might stop you

that lies in subtraction, and how liveable small spaces can be. They show how designing something elegant needn’t cost a fortune. They show how a small view of a quiet landscape can be as uplifting and alluring as a larger, more glamorous vista. They are tiny, but they possess a sense of enormous calm.

The project began, in part, as a response to a provocative question: why would you stay in New Zealand? The owner of one of the cabins asked himself this a few years before purchasing this piece of land. Like many young New Zealanders, he had been visit-ing friends in alluring cities and, he says, “trying to clarify in my head what holds me here”. The answer was “not about living in a way that mimics a life you might have in London or New York. I wanted friends to be able to visit a place like this and instantly under-stand what living in this part of the world brings”.

A conventional response to such a question might be to build a glassy palace overlooking a glittering blue bay, but this moody inlet with its mangroves and mudflats stood out “because it wasn’t Omaha-like. It felt more genuine. There’s something very restful about the feeling of isolation this place brings”.

Nat Cheshire is well known for his work in shaping Auckland’s Britomart and CityWorks Depot precincts, where he and his team have designed new buildings and heritage conversions and many of the interiors


in your tracks, and help you see anew”. In this he was inspired by Kazimir Malevich and his bold experi-ments in abstract painting. He eliminated elements that would make the cabins legible as regular build-ings, such as flashings and normal-sized doors and windows, so that they appear monolithic. The sense of abstraction was enhanced by the selection of a fine board for the exteriors that was charred instead of stained, and the way the upper and lower edges of the structures were designed with the same pitch so “they weren’t houses with mono-pitched roofs, but complete prisms,” Cheshire says.

Being small was an advantage. “Small houses offer the possibility of perfection in a way big houses rarely do – they approach the scale of furniture,” Cheshire says. (They also allow the chance to obsess over every detail. His office spent days, for example, investigating ways to lock the doors without the mechanisms being visible). The cabins’ size, in other words, was treated as an invitation to be brave.

Cheshire and his clients liked the idea of using touches of luxury to enliven the interiors, to tease out what Cheshire calls “the tension between humble and special”. The cabin with the black interior is lined in form ply, cheap timber panels covered in a dark, polished coating for use in the concrete-casting process. Here, their sheen creates a deep sense of

space, rendering the ceiling almost invisible. “At night if there’s just a couple of candles going, the panels have a sheen that’s quite disconcerting; it’s like you’re sitting in a void, or outside,” one of the owners says. The black cabin’s kitchen is a small brass insertion, a jewel-like touch of luxury in the darkness. In the other cabin's kitchen, the rich grain of oiled jarrah contrasts with the lightness of regular construction ply.

Most coastal homes include as much glass as they can to allow their occupants to soak up the landscape. The cabins adopt an entirely different strategy, with each of their single square windows creating a trap-ezoid of light on the floor as the sun moves through the sky during the day. This makes the cabins a deeply interior experience, a feeling so resonant it makes you realise how uncommon it has become in contemporary New Zealand architecture. “There was a resistance to the idea of indoor-outdoor flow and all this real estate vernacular,” Cheshire says. “The cabins are a retreat from the landscape rather than a saturation in it.”

There is a kind of poetry in this resistance, and in the determination to create something marvellous from something small. The quiet, contemplative power and self-assurance of these tiny structures can teach us all a lot: big lessons about needs, wants and having just enough.


Far left The other cabin's interior is clad in honey-coloured builder's ply. The floors in both cabins are made from unsanded, unsealed decking boards.

Above left The ply cabin features a kitchen made of oiled jarrah. The stairs lead to the sleeping loft on the mezzanine floor.

Right While most coastal holiday homes feature enormous glass doors, each of the cab-ins has a single square window carefully fram-ing the view. An 'AJ' floor lamp by Arne Jacobsen sits beside the vintage Ercol sofa. The 'Diana' coffee table is by Konstantin Grcic for ClassiCon.

Cheshire hoped the cabins might feel "like boats tied up at moorings in a slow-motion ocean – the idea that one might be adrift above the land was important".

The cabins sit on a piece of land beside a Kaipara Harbour inlet on which the owners have planted hundreds of native trees.

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Lower floor

01 / Living area02 / Kitchen03 / Bathroom04 / Sleeping loft

Upper floor

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The director of Cheshire Architects on the challenges of creating the 2014 Home of the Year.

Was it good to design small?Yes. Small houses offer the possibil-ity of perfection in a way big houses rarely do – they approach the scale of furniture. Right from the outset scale was a subject and a strategy. There's a responsibility with objects of that scale that someone who is bold enough to commission it deserves to be delighted in every junction. It's [also] a reaction against the wasteful way we occupy land in this country. And there was a resistance to the idea of indoor outdoor flow and all this real estate vernacular. The cabins are a retreat from the land-scape rather than a saturation in it.

How did you choose where to put the cabins? Standing on the site there are only two or three locations that have sufficient stillness to hold houses of that scale. A small house is buffeted by the landscape in a way a big house is not. In that big long grass it feels more like these were boats tied up at moorings in a slow-motion ocean – the idea that one might be adrift above the land was important. The position of the two relative to each other is not radi-cally opposed or discordant. We rotated them so they were not too similarly skewed. It was just about asking, does this seem about right?

Q&A with Nat Cheshire

DESIGNNOTEBOOK

Below Some of Cheshire's early sketches of the cabins.

Right The cabins share identical floor plans, one of which is shown here.

OF THE YEAR

FINALIST

TEXT / Jeremy Hansen PHOTOGRAPHY / Simon Devitt

Amid the sunburned grass and bright-blue waters of Banks Peninsula, Pattersons design a farmhouse that blends

modern convenience with easy-going rusticity.

Land,seaand

sky


Above A rugged four-wheel drive track provides the only access to the house, which is in the bay to the right of this ridge line. Below Architect Andrew Patterson sited the house

at the centre of the bay. In this photograph, the morning light slices down the valley.


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 United States, where he eventually built a successful property company, married and raised six children. But the lure of farming never left him, and this urge to return to the land led to his purchase of Annandale, a sheep and cattle station of approximately 4,000 acres with more than 10 kilometres of coastline on the northern side of Banks Peninsula.

Palmer currently lives on the farm (which is run by a farm manager) as well as in the US. Since he purchased Annandale, he has carefully renovated the farm’s original homestead and brought its magnificent gardens back to life. He has also overseen the restora-tion of a shepherd’s cottage on the remote northern reaches of the farm, a half-hour’s drive along a four-wheel drive track from the homestead. The farm itself is now functioning efficiently and is fully stocked. He has planted thousands of native trees.

You would think that would be a logical place to pause, but Palmer hasn’t finished yet. On the farm’s

northern extremity, about 10 minutes’ drive further on from the shepherd’s cottage, work was recently completed on two new buildings, including an all- new farmhouse that pays elegant homage to its gorgeous setting. Palmer had already been working with architect Andrew Patterson and the team at Pattersons on the restoration of the homestead and shepherd’s cottage, and it was them that he asked to come up with a design for this isolated bay.

The brief was loose, leaving Patterson to fret, for a while, over what might be an appropriate form for this starkly beautiful location. Patterson is well-known for creating some of the country’s best contempo-rary buildings – including Auckland’s Site Three, the Hills Clubhouse at Michael Hill's golf course near Arrowtown, and the new visitor centre in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens – but a strong vein of classicism also runs through his work. Here in this valley on Banks Peninsula, he resisted the tempta-tion to do something ultra-modern. “I laboured very hard about whether to do a completely abstracted form on that site,” Patterson says, “and I didn’t want to do that because that bay is eternal, and one thing that

Above The building's cedar walls and roof are almost the same hue as the sunburned grasses of the farm that surround it. Despite an open brief, Andrew Patterson chose a traditional form

for the building to honour the site's farming history and its sense of timelessness.

The house occupies its site confidently without ever appearing to need to compete with it. It feels

as if it is about a million miles from anywhere.

Above left Shutters slide across to protect the house when it is unoccupied. Above right A view down the high hallway towards one of the bedrooms. Right The chimney in the home's great room is made of

stone from the farm's own quarry. The 'Mah Jong' sofa and ottomans are by Hans Hopfer for Roche Bobois. The rug was custom-made using wool from the sheep on Annandale Station.


you do know is it’s likely to be a farm for a long time. If you pick a contemporary form, you fight the time-less nature of the bay. But the building is reasonably abstracted in a material sense – everything about it is still very contemporary.”

Curiously enough, Patterson grew up near another Annandale Station, this one in the Waikato, which boasted an 1892 rendition of an English country house owned by the parents of one of his high school friends (and now listed as a Historic Place Category

One building by the Historic Places Trust). Patterson remembers the house, with its simple verandah, as “not being excessive in any way,” and sought to emu-late that and the “oilskins, gumboots and gun racks” authenticity of the place here on Banks Peninsula.

The symmetry of the bay made siting the building at its centre seem logical, and the first glimpses of it, as you descend a rugged four-wheel-drive track from a ridge line, are breathtaking. Its cedar skin, which wraps the exterior walls and the roof, has the same honeyed tones as the parched grass that surrounds it. Its simple forms appear to rest in absolute harmony with the arresting landscape. The house occupies its site confidently without ever appearing to need to compete with it. The arrangement of forms is com-pletely inviting: you want to get down that track and see what it’s like inside.

The building runs east to west, but instead of a single extruded elevation, it features two connected gabled forms which almost appear to be slipping past one another. The entrance is located in the area where these forms connect, where a lovely waft of the home’s macrocarpa linings is apparent as soon as the door

That bay is eternal. If you pick a contemporary form, you fight the timeless nature of the bay. But everything about it is still very contemporary.

The building runs east to west, but instead of a single extruded elevation, it features two connected gabled forms, which almost appear to be slipping past one another.

Above The home's living areas open onto a wide deck with built-in seating. Below left Each of the three main bedrooms has a bathroom featuring a tub with a view of the ocean. Below right An old windmill that sits above a

bore was on site before the home design began. Bottom right A view of two of the home's bedrooms.


Above A view from the ridge line above the house of the headland on the eastern side of Scrubby Bay.

is opened. A tall, thin hallway to the right leads to a bunkroom and a bedroom, while a high door to the left opens into what can only be called a great room: a long, lofty space with, at its heart, a fireplace and chimney made of stone from the farm’s own quarry. The gabled roof is expressed inside in the way the macrocarpa linings rise to a peak, while big doors reveal a view over the deck outside and across the field to the rocky beach. The large, practical kitchen looks onto another, south-facing deck protected from breezes coming off the water. Each of the three main bedrooms has its own simple bathroom and a view towards the sea. The house feels as if it is a million miles from anywhere.

Palmer envisages the home as a place for the fam-ily to stay when they’re visiting and also as a luxury holiday rental property to be included in Annandale’s coastal farm escape and luxury villa collection. You can see why he appears so proud of the place, as it is easy to imagine it being somewhere that guests would never want to leave, a home with a wonderful sense of calm in an isolated bay perfectly in tune with its marvellous surroundings.


The first glimpses of the house, as you descend a rugged four-wheel drive track from a ridge line, are breathtaking.

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Below A deck open-ing off the kitchen area provides shade and shelter from sea breezes.

01 / Bedroom02 / Library03 / Dining terrace04 / Living05 / Kitchen06 / Mud room07 / Bedroom08 / Bunk room09 / Bedroom10 / Deck

Below left and centre Shutters allow the home to be closed up when it is unooccupied, or in bad weather.

Below far left An antique map of Annandale Station is on one of the walls inside the farmhouse.

10

How did this project come about?Mark rang out of the blue and said [the farm’s original] farmhouse needed alter-ing. It was terribly dilapidated, but it had this beautiful garden. Once we had done that, he started to formulate what he wanted from the rest of the property, which included this new building. He had no specific architectural vision other than to create experiences that built on the experience of the farm.

How did you decide what was appropriate in this bay? The bay was rural and peaceful and rugged. I laboured very hard about whether to

do a completely abstracted form on that site and I didn’t want to do that because that bay is eternal, and one thing that you do know is it’s likely to be a farm for a long time. If you pick a contemporary form, you fight the time-less nature of the bay. But the building is reasonably abstracted in a material sense – everything about it is still very contemporary but unmistakably rural New Zealand. It’s not excessive in any way. It has classic proportions and natural forms. The drama of that house is its centredness in the amphitheatre of the bay.

The founder of Pattersons Architects on rendering a farmhouse in classic, contemporary form.

Q&A with Andrew Patterson

DESIGNNOTEBOOK


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TEXT / Jeremy Hansen PHOTOGRAPHY / Patrick Reynolds

Herbst Architects design a lightweight getaway for a heavy-duty site on the Whangarei Heads.

The holiday home has two decks and living areas on the upper level, and three bed-rooms in the lower part of the house.

Rocksteady

OF THE YEAR

FINALIST

Our insatiable appetites for the drama of rein-vention and the refreshment of change means we often ignore the merits of determined focus, of constantly looking for new answers to the same question. It could be said that Auckland-based architects Lance and Nicola Herbst have, for most of the past 15 years, been asking themselves this: what’s the best way to live in and feel connected to the New Zealand landscape and climate? The application of their abundant skill has resulted in a diverse range of responses, from their own bare-bones beach shack on Great Barrier Island to the glassy, ethereal house in a pohutukawa grove beside Piha Beach that won the 2012 Home of the Year prize.

More recently, the husband-and-wife team posed this question on a different, show-stopping site near the Whangarei Heads, on a ridge line below the precipitous bluff of Castle Rock and just a few steps above a gorgeous pohutukawa-shrouded beach. It is not accurate to say Herbsts’ work is improving from project to project because their mastery has been evi-dent for years. But it is fascinating to see the different ways they apply their architectural vocabulary to a variety of sites and conditions.

Here at Castle Rock they were asked to design a holiday home for a family of four from Auckland. The site, as you can see from the photographs on these

pages, was gorgeous, but came with a number of challenges. The building platform on top of the ridge was already prescribed by the rules of the subdivi-sion, and was exposed to wind from every direction. The views out to sea and to the Whangarei Heads were to the south, but the views north to the top of Castle Rock were, in their own ways, just as worthy of contemplation.

There was an existing path on the site that the couple decided to utilise in their design. They decided to terminate the driveway about 70 metres from the house, necessitating a walk along the ridge line to the deck that also serves as a casual entry point to the home. The journey through the home from this point is a rectilinear continuation of this path to the beach, as it turns right and drops down from the arrival area into a narrow staircase, through a gabion retaining wall and the bedroom wing, and onwards down to the shore.

The home has a fabulous openness: it feels at times as if it is little more than a series of casual shel-ters on the way to the beach. In reality, the entry level of the home is made up of two decks and two rooms, each of them with an array of doors, shutters and screens that offer a variety of configurations between openness and closure. The entry deck faces north to the view of Castle Rock, and is therefore perfect for

Left The Herbsts' design stops cars at the edge of the site, making visitors walk a path to the house. The bed-rooms are contained in the volume at right.

Below Both the home's decks are connected to the kitchen. This one faces the sea view south, its slatted roof tipping northwards for the sun.


sheltering from southerly breezes. Like most of the doors on this level, the slider separating this deck from the kitchen disappears into a wall; so does the door on the other side of the kitchen, which connects to another deck with a fireplace and a view of the ocean. The idea is that there will always be a cov-ered outdoor space to hang out in, but if the weather is truly terrible, access to both these decks can be closed off, and the owners can move easily between the kitchen and the snug living area, with its deep built-in seats and corner window overlooking the trees beside the beach.

The home’s three bedrooms (including a six-berth bunk room for the kids, with a fun hatch through the floor) are contained in an almost separate linear wing that is adjacent to but a level below the living spaces. The aforementioned gabion retaining wall serves the dual purpose of stabilising the site and acting as the spine for a semi-open walkway connecting the bed-rooms, a space that is covered but otherwise open-air.

These materials – the gabion wall and the cedar-battened volume of the bedroom wing beside it – and the device of forcing the home’s occupants to engage a little with the elements will be familiar to fans of the Herbsts, but there’s a freshness about the way they’re deployed here, with the darkness of the walkway providing a cool contrast to the brightness outside,


"We play with what's inside and what's outside to create a different experience to the city, with that strong engagement with nature."

Right A gabion wall forms a backbone to a covered but open hall-way (with slatted gates at each end) between the living areas and bedrooms.

"It's so rich in view in all directions that it's almost awkward, so we tried to use the house as a viewfinder to focus your view on certain areas."

The snug living room has a window that crops a view of the beach and headland below. The 'Octo' pen-dant at right is by Seppo Koho for Secto and is from Simon James Design.


Left The entrance to the home is not through a formal front door, but via a north-facing deck.

Below left The south-facing deck has shutters that allow the owners to moderate the wind on this exposed site.

Right Built-in storage in the home's main bed-room with a view of the gabion wall in the semi-open hallway outside.

Below right A view from the northern deck through the kitchen to the southern deck, with a glimpse through glass and timber mullions to the living room at right.

the heaviness of the wall lending a sense of solidity to an otherwise lightweight house. “We play with what’s inside and what’s outside to create a different experi-ence to the city with that strong engagement with nature,” Lance says.

Managing the views from a site this spectacular was a luxury problem to grapple with, one the Herbsts decided to handle “like a degustation meal with lots of courses,” Nicola says. Adds Lance: “It’s so rich in view in all directions that it’s almost awkward, so we tried to use the house as a viewfinder to focus your view on certain areas.” The kitchen features a slot window that reveals a view down to another postcard-perfect beach to the east to anyone seated at the kitchen island, while a cut-out window in the living room beautifully crops a slice of rocky headland. The bedrooms and two shower stalls (one an en suite, the other shared) have angular views towards the beach that also ensure privacy from neighbouring homes on a nearby ridge.

The owners, who have just had their first sum-mer in the house, asked the Herbsts to design the home to absorb 30 people. Luckily, this didn’t mean they needed to create bedrooms for such a horde, as the extended family was happy to stay in tents they pitched on the property (the garage at the end of the driveway contains a laundry and small shower

for campers). The 100-square-metre holiday home (a measurement which includes decks) works perfectly, with its various spaces allowing adults and children just the right amount of separation without feeling as if they were being forced apart. (The home was built by Lindesay Construction).

Now that it’s complete, does this home feel differ-ent to their previous work? “It’s a distillation of all that we keep doing with inside rooms and outside space,” Lance says. “It’s another chapter in a book. It’s a slow game, planning this stuff.”

If thoughtful buildings like this are what slow and deliberate get you, then it's worth us putting our desire for reinvention aside and recognising that patience has far greater rewards.


Left The kitchen features a 'Victo' light by Seppo Koho for Secto and 'Pedro' stools by Craig Bond for Candywhistle, both from Simon James Design.

Below Nicola and Lance Herbst sit at the window seat in the home's living room, where the windows slide back to blur the boundary between indoors and out.

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Upper (entry) floor Lower floor

01 / Lounge02 / North deck03 / Platform04 / Kitchen05 / View deck06 / Bunk room07 / Bathroom08 / Bedroom09 / En suite10 / Bedroom

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From top The southern deck opens onto a lawn above the beach; a view of the rocky cliff behind the house (middle); a small fireplace heats the snug living area.

wind are more and more difficult. The strategy is to have two decks and even those decks need layers. We play with what’s inside and what’s outside to create a different experience to the city, that strong engagement with nature, that feeling of being forced outside to go to the bathrooms. It was also important that the build-ing had a lightness. We didn’t want to put a heavy building on a site that is a fragile environment. Practically and visually, you want a building that sits as lightly as possible.

You’ve worked a lot in the bach genre. Is this house an extension of that work?LANCE It’s a distillation of all of this work that we keep doing with inside and outside space. This project has distilled it down to something concen-trated. It’s a very strong articulation between inside and outside in one way, but in another way it’s almost the opposite. It’s another chapter in a book. [Architecture is] a slow game.

The husband-and-wife team on finding the best ways to live in the New Zealand landscape.

You had a prescribed building plat-form for this home on the ridge. How did you go about developing the design for it?LANCE We made an early decision to separate the cars from the house. NICOLA And we identified the journey, a 70-metre walk to the house. LANCE We didn’t want that impossible thing to deal with – a car right there. NICOLA We reinstated the existing track to create a journey through the house to the beach.

This is also an exposed site, but with fantastic views in all directions. LANCE It’s so rich in view in all direc-tions that it’s almost awkward, so we tried to use the house as a viewfinder to crop views, edit out certain areas, focus your view to certain areas. Regarding the exposure, we’ve found there’s no such thing as a prevail-ing wind condition in summer. The demands on these baches in terms of creating spaces that get away from the

Q&A with Nicola and Lance Herbst

DESIGNNOTEBOOK


TEXT / Jeremy Hansen PHOTOGRAPHY / Paul McCredie

Faced with a steep site and a low budget, Andrew Simpson turns to a Japanese design system for inspiration in creating his tiny Wellington home.

OF THE YEAR

FINALIST

virtueSystem

The mezzanine of the 50-square-metre home contains the sleeping space with its own deck and a study. The 'Stchu-Moon' hanging lamp is by Catellani and Smith. The ceiling timber is torrefied white ash.

Krysty Peebles in the kitchen of the compact home she shares with her partner Andrew Simpson and their whippets Flynn (on the sofa) and Ben. An enormous glass sliding door fills the home with light. The living space features two connected sitting areas, one that opens to the small deck and a more intimate snug with a sofa and television.

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. But when a building project is already up against the odds, it is surely insane to add another layer of com-plication. And yet, confronted by a tight budget and a steep, scrub-covered Wellington site that nobody else seemed to want, Andrew Simpson decided to do precisely this, by adopting a mid-century Japanese system for small homes to inspire his design.

Simpson had worked for a summer in Japan as an architecture student and attended an exhibition in Kyoto that, a decade later, turned out to be a valuable guide to designing his own home. The exhibition focused on the ‘Nine Tsubo House’, a prototypi-cal dwelling designed in 1952 by architect Makoto Masuzawa as a proposed solution to Japan’s post-war housing shortage. A single ‘tsubo’ is a square made up of two tatami mats; nine of them together form a floor area of 50 square metres (538 square feet). Paradoxically, Simpson found the application of Masuzawa’s small-home design principles made his against-the-odds task in Wellington easier. “The constraints were useful,” Simpson says. “It was a way of imposing a discipline on the design, and it was a place to start.”

A home measuring 50 square metres might seem intolerably small for many people, but it wasn’t an issue for Simpson or his partner, Krysty Peebles, who had lived in a succession of petite spaces before creat-ing this one, including a 60-square-metre apartment by architect Chris Kelly and a 40-square-metre studio by the late Gerald Melling.

After years of renting, the couple wanted to purchase their own home, but they couldn’t afford a house in Wellington and weren’t interested in living in a distant suburb. As a possible solution, Simpson created an early design based on Masuzawa’s Nine Tsubo system and had it priced by a quantity surveyor. The results were promising.

“It looked like it was do-able as long as we found the right section,” Simpson says. The plot of land they found a year later in the Wellington suburb of Island Bay was certainly cheap, partly because it could only be accessed by scrambling up a bank. Once Simpson clambered to the top of the bush-clad site, however, he could see its potential.

“I don’t think people could see what I could see,” he says. “It has all-day sun with a nice outlook over the valley”. He sited the house not to feel firmly grounded, but to “get this feeling of being in the bush or in the trees – you look out the door and you’re look-ing at the canopy, like a treehouse.”

Simpson also carefully sited the home so it screens out views of neighbouring properties, making it feel as if it sits alone on a much larger site. A walkway leads from the end of the driveway, where visitors see a high wall of dark Coloursteel that reveals little of what lies inside. “One thread in Japanese archi-tecture is the rejection of the street. You enter into a house or garden and are in another world,” Simpson explains. “We have a pretty austere corrugated iron box facing the entry, but once you go through that little door you’re in this other environment you don’t necessarily realise is there.”

Indeed, the home makes up for what it lacks in size with a huge sense of generosity. The short journey through the lower floor of the lofty space culminates in an enormous sliding glass door that allows the entire home to be filled with light, and opens onto a small deck with a big view across the valley. Except for the bathroom and laundry, which are tucked away at the entrance opposite the kitchen, the home is one open space (each of its exterior walls is the same size as the floor, which means the house is a cube topped with a pitched roof).

The living space features two connected sitting areas, one with a view out the big door, the other a snug television nook with a slot window that reveals a glimpse of the pohutukawa trunks outside. Up a small staircase (some Nine Tsubo houses produced by


"What's interesting about this place is that while it's small, it's so open the rooms don't feel it. None of it feels poky."


The desire to save money meant Simpson was heavily involved in the building process. Once a retaining wall that stabilised the southeastern cor-ner of the site was complete, builder John Kaveney had erected the shell and the walls had been lined, Simpson and his father built the kitchen cabinetry, the wardrobe, balustrades, and shelving that lines the TV nook and edge of the mezzanine floor. They weren’t experts when they began, and they learned a lot on a sometimes frustrating job. “It gave me a whole new respect for joiners,” says Simpson. “It wasn’t until about half-way through the job that we bought a fancy skillsaw that made things easier.”

Masuzawa or his fans feature only a ladder, but the risers of this staircase lift up to allow extra storage), the mezzanine floor holds the sleeping space (which itself opens onto a deck higher up the site), a built-in wardrobe and a workstation. Miraculously, Simpson works from home: his little abode is also currently the premises of Wiredog Architecture, the firm he established when he left Parsonson Architects last year. He says he can hap-pily spend all day in the house, sometimes taking a break to take the couple's whippets, Ben and Flynn, for walks around the neighbourhood, or meeting friends for lunch in the city.

Opposite The snug off the living area has a long, low window that reveals pohutu-kawa trunks outside, adding to the home's "treehouse" effect.

Above right While some Nine Tsubo homes have only a ladder, this one has a staircase with risers that open up for addi-tional storage.

Above Ben at the home's main entry, which moves past the staircase and bath-room. The bathroom door is concealed in the cabinetry at right.

No one wanted the steep, small, scrub-covered site, but Simpson could see its potential with its all-day sun and outlook over the valley. The house is carefully sited to encourage the feeling of being secluded among the trees and to screen out neighbouring properties.

Part of the charm of this petite home is the warmth of its materials, with its Lawson cypress beams, blonded poplar cabinetry and the torrefied white ash on the ceiling (which was left in the drying kiln for long enough before coming to market to imbue it with a rich, caramel hue). The home is also warm in a literal sense: Simpson and Peebles installed a small electric panel heater on the back of the kitchen island only to find it was almost unnecessary – the sun warms the well-insulated home so effectively that the heater was only turned on twice last winter.

Simpson and Peebles obviously love their new home, and like to regularly invite friends over to show it off. They’ve even had 12 people over for dinner. “It gets pretty cosy with a crowd,” Simpson says, “but what’s interesting about this place is that while it’s small, it’s so open the rooms don't feel it. None of it feels poky."

It's hard to imagine how Makoto Masuzawa, who died in 1990, might feel about the fact that his design lives on, being adapted and adored more than 50 years after he devised it. But it's easy to imagine that he'd be chuffed that his design is still relevant not only in Japan, but in a country half-way round the world.


Right Simpson at work at his desk in the study nook on the home's mezzanine floor.

Above Simpson and his father built the internal cabinetry and shelving themselves.

Opposite Simpson on the deck with the dogs, taking in the view over the valley.

"One thread in Japanese architecture is the rejection of the street. You enter a house or garden and are in another world."


The designer of this 50-square-metre house on keeping it small.

What made you embark on this project?andrew simpson We were renting and getting to that stage where we wanted to get into our own home. We couldn’t afford to buy a house in Wellington, so we started look-ing at sections and seeing what the prices were. We knew we had to get a bargain section and we knew that we could live in small spaces. We could have spent about the same amount of money on a very marginal house way out of town and then had to spend more doing it up.

How did you learn about Masuzawa’s Nine Tsubo house design system?One year during architecture school I didn’t have anything to do over Christmas holidays and I did an internship with a firm called Foba in Uchi, a town near Kyoto. I saw an exhibition on the Nine Tsubo House in Kyoto with a whole lot of concept models of Nine Tsubo houses. I hadn’t

thought about it for a long time until we started looking at options for build-ing our own house. It was a way of imposing a discipline on the design [of our house]. It was kind of a place to start. One of the first projects we did at architecture school was an old nine-square grid, so there was this resonance there as well.

Are you pleased you chose to follow the Nine Tsubo system, and with how the house turned out generally?The constraints were useful. I’m pretty pleased with the way it has turned out. I look at details in the joinery [that my father and I built] that didn’t work quite as well as we’d hoped but that’s because we’re amateurs trying to do a professional job. It was a fantastic learning experience doing that much building. What’s interesting about this place is that while it’s small, it’s so open the rooms don’t feel it. You’re not in the bedroom thinking this is claus-trophobic. None of it feels poky.

Q&A with Andrew Simpson of Wiredog Architecture

DESIGNNOTEBOOK

From left A view of the home's entry; looking through to the deck from the entry; the dogs on the deck overlooking the valley.

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This isn’t the only important decision.

TEXT / Jeremy Hansen PHOTOGRAPHY / Patrick Reynolds

For their retirement, Doug and Kate Lovell asked their architect son Tim and his business partner Ana O’Connell to design a Wanaka home for an exciting new life phase.

Real time

OF THE YEAR

FINALIST

Left Architects Tim Lovell and Ana O'Connell referenced local history, specifi-cally the simplicity of miners' huts, some of which featured a schist wall and corrugated sheet of roofing to pro-vide sturdy shelter in an exposed landscape.

This page One of two courtyards, this one opens off the north-facing dining area and sits beneath the peak of the steeply pitched roof.

It is all very well to design homes with enormous budgets in spectacular locations, but architecture is in dire need in 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 orientation of homes to the sun have been mostly ignored. Whatever the reason for architecture’s near-total absence in these places, everyone ends up the poorer for it.

Hiring an architect to design their new Wanaka home came naturally for Doug and Kate Lovell, as their son Tim had recently established the Wellington-based firm Lovell & O’Connell Architects (LO’CA) with Ana O’Connell, an old friend from architecture school. (Tim had most recently worked at Wellington’s Parsonson Architects, while Ana had been part of Jasmax’s team in the capital.) Doug and Kate were mov-ing out of a home on the Otago Peninsula designed

for them 40 years earlier by Murray Cockburn, a Queenstown-based architect they would have happily commissioned again had their son not entered the profession. They had decided to retire to Wanaka after holidaying there for decades. For their new home, they purchased a site in a new subdivision on the eastern side of the lake with views across the water towards Treble Cone.

The home Tim and Ana designed for them was one of the first in the suburb and it set a high bar, a bold, distinctive form in a street now full of dwellings with few distinguishing features. “When we started with the design there was nothing else in the suburb to respond to, so we started looking at the landscape and the history of Central Otago,” Tim says.

The pair was particularly inspired by old miners’ huts in the region, which sometimes featured a wall of schist and a single sheet of corrugated roofing iron. “They were very simple structures that

Above By cutting into the site and lowering the building platform by about a metre, the home is able to snugly hunker down.

Right For owners Doug and Kate Lovell, living is done down-stairs, as is a den where Kate plays her double bass, while the guest rooms are located at mezzanine level.


The long, low concrete wall, which was cast on site, has cut outs which enable Doug, a keen cook, to grow herbs. The dining table is from Thonet in Wellington.

When designing their home, Tim had the advantage of knowing how his parents live, while being mindful this was a time of great change: "The day they moved in was the first day of their retirement."

Left An espaliered apple tree, with herbs growing at its feet, basks in the intense southern sun.

Above The home's concrete retaining wall runs from inside to out, where it frames the northern courtyard.


provided real shelter in an exposed landscape,” Tim says.

Their first move was counter-intuitive in a suburb where most of the homes now seem to be craning their necks for the view: they cut into the site and lowered the building platform of the home by about a metre, which makes it feel safely hunkered down on its windy site. Most of the soil from the cut was moved to create a softer transition between the house and the road, and to provide more shelter for the site from the northerly winds.

Near the street, they designed a long, low, thick concrete wall – a reference to the schist walls of the miners’ huts – which runs from inside to out and enhances the sense of the home being firmly grounded and sheltered. The elemental feel of the wall, which was cast on-site, is enhanced by the inclusion of cut-outs in which Doug, a keen cook, can grow herbs. The plants, which spill down the

concrete face, make the wall feel like a part of the landscape. The home’s dark steel roof leaps off this concrete base, forming a wall of privacy to the street and folding protectively over the interiors. Its centre is cleaved apart between the garage and kitchen to form a tranquil entry courtyard that catches the morning sun, while a second courtyard opens off the north-facing dining area under the peak of the steep roof.

A living area faces the lake view, while two guest bedrooms and a bathroom are tucked above this on a mezzanine level. Doug and Kate’s bedroom and bathroom are on the ground floor, past a snug den where Kate plays her double bass, and where specially designed cabinetry holds treasures from their old home, including a grandfather clock and a collection of first-edition books. Doug’s antique desk occupies the corner.

The house measures 250 square metres including

the large double garage, but its efficient planning makes it feel larger. With a limited material palette of concrete, cedar and interior ply walls, the house was immaculately constructed by builder Tony Quirk for a pleasingly economical cost.

The home functions beautifully, positioned per-pendicular to the prevailing northerly wind so that it runs along the front face without gusting inside. Low west-facing eaves mean the home never overheats in the middle of summer, while collecting plenty of solar warmth in its concrete floor in the winter.

There are some risky dynamics in play when an architect designs a home for his or her parents, includ-ing the possibility that the younger generation will impose a vision of how they think their elders should live, rather than genuinely responding to their needs.

Kate and Doug had done a test run 12 years earlier when Tim designed a renovation of their bathrooms in their old house. “They were beautiful and were an


The home functions beautifully, positioned perpendicular to the prevailing northerly wind so that it runs along the front face without gusting inside.

Above Low, west- facing eaves ensure the house never overheats in summer, yet enable the concrete floor to collect and distribute heat in winter.

important part in our house selling within 10 days,” Kate says.

Ana was there to ensure all the family members were listening to each other. “Doug and Kate came to the project with a lot of trust,” Ana says. “There was a lot of discussion about how they wanted to live as a retired couple.”

Tim also had the advantage of knowing how Kate and Doug live, while being mindful this was a time of great change. “This was a new way of living for them because the day they moved in was the first day of their retirement,” he says.

And when you’re designing for your parents, the long-term consequences of not getting things right can be a great motivator. “If we’d cocked it up,” Tim says, “I would never have lived it down.”


Above The palette of concrete, cedar and ply is warmed with the occasional burst of colour. The sofa Kate is sitting on and the large glass table are from Thonet.

Below The music room where Kate, a member of the Southern Sinfonia orchestra, practices her double bass.

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The LO'CA architects on the challenge of designing a home for Tim's parents in their retirement.

The Wanaka subdivision has some great views, but when you embarked on this project you couldn’t see where other homes were going to be located. How were you able to respond in this situation?tim lovell The house has a walkway on its northern side. Because we knew that key view wasn’t going to be built out, we focused the house on that view down the lake towards Treble Cone.

What was it like designing for your parents?tim It was good. They were the best clients I’ve ever had. I think as an archi-tect you need to find out about your clients and how they live, and I already knew all those things so we had a lot to design from. I don’t think we pitched an idea they said no to. A key element of the house was they wanted to do more entertaining, because they had more time. My Dad loves to cook, and I remember when I was younger he’d often be stirring a pot with his back to us. So in the new house we flipped that around so he can talk to people. ana o'connell It was almost like a bit of a stage for him – the cooking is a performance.

The home you’ve designed has a bold form. How did you develop it?ana We looked into the history of the place, and these beautiful miner’s huts with a wall of schist and then a draped corrugated roof – very simplis-tic structures that provide real shelter in an exposed landscape, and have a pared-down material palette that’s just so strong. So we came up with this idea of a rock frame and roof being the main parts to design the house around.

Q&A with Tim Lovell and Ana O'Connell.

DESIGNNOTEBOOK


OF THE YEAR

FINALIST

TEXT / Jeremy Hansen PHOTOGRAPHY / Samuel Hartnett

A home by Wendy Shacklock and Paul Clarke

combines lightness and heft on Waiheke Island.

Designed to emulate the feelings of pro-tection and precariousness of a nest, the

home's dining area cantilevers a short distance off its Waiheke Island clifftop.

Life on the edge

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 elements also made for a fascinating architec-tural challenge for Wendy Shacklock and her clients, Brian and Sally McKibbin. How to create a home on a vertiginous Waiheke Island clifftop that felt comfort-ing and adventurous at the same time?

The process started early, with Shacklock help-ing Sally and Brian search for an appropriate site. It is rare to find an available piece of land this magical on Waiheke Island these days, but this one not far east of Oneroa turned out to be hidden in plain sight. “This place was a wilderness,” Brian says, “full of old water tanks and scrub.” Its incredible views were also mostly obscured. Fourteen truckloads of rubbish were removed from the site, which also had an old, undis-tinguished house on it that Brian and Sally stayed in while plans for their new home were hatched.

The McKibbins were moving here after selling their previous Waiheke home, a Mediterranean-style residence they had designed themselves with a draftsman. It had large verandahs for outdoor living and an abundant garden. This time they wanted something different, but they weren’t terribly specific

in their brief to Shacklock about just how different it should be. “We wanted a home that was full of surprises, and I think that’s been achieved,” Sally says. “We employed an architect, so [we had to have] confidence in her, because that’s what you’re paying for.” When it came to specifics, the couple said they wanted three bedrooms, as well as the ability to entertain a crowd of 50 if they felt like it.

First, Shacklock had to get the site organised. Tight height controls meant she suggested that a metre of soil be scraped off the site so that the home’s main volume could rise to a peak of five metres. Flattening the site this way also allowed for the creation of a lawn around the house and an eastern courtyard adjacent to the kitchen and main bedroom bordered with Waiheke stone and a gnarled pohutu-kawa. Next, a series of 14 metre-deep holes were drilled and filled to stabilise the site.

The McKibbins knew that Waiheke Island’s cold southwesterly winds would roar over the val-ley towards the site, so Shacklock created a hefty, textured concrete wall that is visible on the exterior and interior of the home’s entire southern face. Over this she folded an intricate cedar ceiling, expertly constructed by builder Kevin Glamuzina. “I wanted it to not just be about the view, but about the feeling of being in the house,” Shacklock says.


Above A hefty concrete wall runs along the home's entire southern elevation, sheltering it from cool southwester-lies and making it feel strongly anchored to its site.

Right The home's cedar ceiling swoops over the interior, rising to a peak of five metres above the living area. The 'FK' lounge chair is by Preben Fabricius and Jørgen Kastholm for Walter Knoll from Matisse.

Left A wall of dark cabi-netry divides the living areas from the kitchen and frames the views. The 'Supernova' pen-dant light is from Inlite. The dining chairs by Charles and Ray Eames are from Matisse.

Right The kitchen features dark cabinetry that contrasts with a white island bench. The 'Munn' bar stool by Karri Monni for LaPalma is from ECC. The pendant lights are from Inlite.


The big view north is the focus of the dining and living space, while the view east is the focus of the kitchen area.

But the views still demanded to be addressed. Shacklock collaborated with her colleague Paul Clarke and together they decided there were two main segments to the 180-degree vista from the house: two-thirds of the view, looking north and out to sea, showed no sign of human habitation at all. It was possible to see homes in the view to the east, but Shacklock loved how this view also took in glimpses of the rocky black cliffs and a nearby beach.

The plan they eventually developed utilises these outlooks separately. The big view north is the focus of the dining and living space, while the view east is the focus of the kitchen area, where big doors capture the morning sun and glimpses of the rocks nearby.

The balance between protection and precarious-ness is deftly handled. The living area has a fireplace and a big sofa backing onto that southerly concrete wall, and looks onto a terrace and the lawn leading to the cliff edge. The dining space, meanwhile, cantile-vers boldly over the cliff edge. A glimpse downwards from there or from the kitchen’s full-length doors to the waves crashing on the rocks below is precipitous enough to easily induce vertigo.

This isn’t a huge house but is nonetheless full of diverse spaces. “You get different aspects from each room, and it’s always changing,” Sally says. “There’s not one area where I think we should have done

something else.” A long wall of dark cabinetry pro-vides a loose division between what Shacklock calls the “public” areas of the home and “the domestic and public realms”: the kitchen and, behind it, the main bedroom and en suite, where the ceiling dips low to create snug, enveloping spaces backed by that formi-dable concrete wall.

At the other end of the home is a guest bedroom and a multi-purpose space that serves as a screening room, study and extra guest room if needed. Here, at the terminus of the journey through the house, is another spot of repose, a deep window seat with a view across the lawn towards a border of century- old totara fenceposts and the sea beyond. It’s a place that feels well-held and secure, a comfortable contrast to the adventurous cantilevering at the other end of the house, and a demonstration of the archi-tect’s skill at balancing these opposing elements.

Above, far left The dining area features a window seat that allows views to the horizon and the rock pools at the bottom of the cliff.

Above left The kitchen opens onto an eastern courtyard that is filled with morning sun and has a view along the rocky headlands.


Above A collection of century-old totara fen-ceposts form the border to the lawn. A window seat projects from the media room at right, which doubles as a guest bedroom.

Right A glimpse of the home on its clifftop site.

Far right The guest bedroom features a 'Pedrera' table lamp by Barba Corsini for Gubi and side tables by Nathan Goldsworthy from Corporate Culture. The silk throw on the bed is by Emma Hayes.


In the main bedroom, the ceiling dips low to create snug, enveloping spaces backed by that formidable concrete wall.

The main bedroom opens onto an eastern courtyard, while the concrete wall makes it feel solidly anchored.

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Below left A view of the kitchen, looking back towards the living area.

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Below right High clerestory windows allow shafts of late-afternoon summer light into the home.

Below centre The home's eastern courtyard has spectacular ocean views.

The Auckland architect on the challenge of creating this unique clifftop home.

You started this project early by looking for sites with your clients, didn’t you? I got to know Sally and Brian as we shopped together for a site. We were lucky enough for this perfect location to come onto the market, a smallish flat area running east-west atop a 40-metre cliff. Facing north are unimpeded views out to sea and across other bays. The brief was for a nest, Te Kohanga, and all that implies for home and security, but also hints at the pre-carious nature of where they’ve chosen to build. It is their permanent home.

How did you go about responding to such a brief?It’s such a beautiful site, they really wanted something of good quality there. I invited my colleague Paul Clarke to work with me, and we were attracted to slightly different aspects of the site which have both been incorporated into the plan. The drivers became framing two separate outlooks – the intimate bays and the open sea – and the long, outstretched arms of the concrete wall,

which is the grounding element for the nest and provides shelter from the vicious southerly aspect. I wanted the house to have a depth and presence that was not dependent on the view but enhanced by it. The house reveals itself gradually, offering little surprises along the way.

Tell us about the work you did to the site in addition to stabilising the cliff. I wanted the volumes to rise up to the core of the house, where its ridge was to be five metres high, and to achieve this with the strict height limitation the top metre of the ridge was removed, which also lessened the steep approach from the south and gave us slightly more flat land.

You’ve talked about the home’s solidity. What’s the most precari-ous part of the house? The dining box cantilevers out to engage directly with the cliff; you can perch and see over the edge of the nest straight down to the waves breaking over the rocks.

Q&A with architect Wendy Shacklock

DESIGNNOTEBOOK



HOME You import a range of contemporary international brands. Describe your current portfolio? BRIAN McTAGGART Eclectic and fresh with a focus on quality design and craftsmanship utilising sustainable materials. You can see this with Anorak, through its striking prints and colour palettes and with Apple & Bee, through its clever use of natural materials such as certified organic cotton, jute and hemp. Kobo achieves it with the quality of natural ingredients and consultation with leading fragrance houses in the US to achieve those amazing scents. With its Scandinavian aesthetic, what defines Satara furniture? The clean lines, impeccable workmanship and finish that come from hand-crafted quality materials; Danish skill and attention to detail with thoughtful and sophisticated design by Satara. They make a room and are to be lived in and enjoyed for a long time.

Are there plans for a retail presence? Accessory brands are distributed by retailers and we currently show retail pricing for furniture online. We are keen to expand our retail footprint with design and furniture retailers that have an affinity with the range. For Sage any bricks and mortar move will be finding the right showroom space to display Satara for trade customers such as designers and architects. This makes sense in support of Satara’s commercial and custom manufacturing expertise.

NEW SAGEOF LIFEGlobal trends in style and functionality lead modern living.

Below The Nordic five-drawer buffet in European oak and black leather Roxanne chair by Satara from Sage Lifestyle. Goose feather lightshade is from a range we are considering.


Sage Lifestyle 09 575 2423 sagelifestyle.co.nz


JEREMY HANSEN Let’s start by talking about the winning project: Eyrie, the black cabins by Cheshire Architects. AMANDA LEVETE That project was very finely tuned, such a poetic response to its site. It was a complete merging of idea and form. And there’s a narrative behind it that’s as poetic as its realisation. The idea that an architect would negotiate with planners to allow a smaller and much more modest footprint on the site is a fantastic inversion of expectations: it captures the mood of the world right now by demonstrating a greater respect for modesty and a reining in of consumerism. It shows how much you can do with so little and still hold such resonance.

The landscape it’s situated in was not the most beautiful or most dramatic of the sites we saw – far from it – but it had a sensibility of its own. You could sense this through the success of the dialogue between the client and the architect. It felt like there was a com-plete synergy between architect and client, and that is quite rare. It feels like the relationship with the client pushed the architect to go beyond his repertoire and explore ideas and an attitude that perhaps hadn’t been expressed in his work before. You need that input from a client, you need that challenge – and you need that energy and inspiration to make your work better. It’s those kind of relationships and moments that push an architect to develop and become great.

The cabins were beautifully detailed in a very sim-ple way but every move, every line held the idea of the house. The tiny brass recessed kitchen area, which was like a little jewel in this simple black container, lifted it from being prosaic to something exceptional. The cabinets around the kitchen, which used a crude black-painted form-board, had chamfered edges that revealed the colour of the ply behind it, a tiny shadow line that, because the space was black, had a lustre almost like there was a light behind it. And what was so revealing about that space was that it was a black interior and

black exterior but it didn’t feel oppressive. You were drawn into the space by the light and felt uplifted and serene and at one with the world and with nature. What made the other homes worthy of inclu-sion? Let’s go from north to south, and start with the house by Herbst Architects. This house expressed very clearly how the forces of nature can drive design, with a clever layering of openings between indoor and outdoor spaces. There was a very strong relationship between a deep gabion wall and the passage between the bedrooms and the main spaces of the house, an outside but protected area that reinforced it as a beach house, so whatever the weather and time of year, you have to go outside to get inside, and that was very charming. On Waiheke Island we visited a home by Wendy Shacklock. What did you enjoy about that? This was an incredibly difficult site and a huge amount of thought had gone into exploring ways in which you could liberate it. That’s been achieved in a way that appears effortless, thanks to much of the site engineering being invisible – but it was far from straightforward. There was also a delicacy about the use of materials and the contrast between the solidity and brutality of the concrete wall and the openness of the elevations looking down at the water. The clients wanted the house to feel like a nest, and it did feel very protective and precarious at the same time.

How about the small house by Andrew Simpson? This was a studio house, just 50 square metres in which every little square foot was accounted for and exploited. There was a wonderful, huge opening up of a view on a very difficult site. What I loved was the ambition and endeavour that was invested into such a complicated site. That endeavour was palpable and real – the architect built much of the interior – and it

MERGING IDEA AND FORMLondon architect Amanda Levete, the international member of our Home of the Year 2014 jury, talks to HOME editor Jeremy Hansen about the judging journey. INTERVIEW + PHOTOGRAPHY / Jeremy Hansen P

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Opposite page The Home of the Year jury: Gary Lawson of Auckland's Stevens Lawson Architects, Amanda Levete, and HOME editor Jeremy Hansen with Richard Serra's 'Te Tuhirangi' at Gibbs Farm.

Top row from left Amanda outside the winning project by Cheshire Architects; Mercedes lent us some sleek wheels for the judging trip; Gary, Amanda, her husband Ben Evans, and Futuna Trust chairman Nick Bevin at John Scott's Futuna Chapel; Ben, Gary and Amanda on the ferry to Waiheke Island.

Bottom row from left Gary in the Wanaka House by LO'CA; Gary and Amanda in the Scrubby Bay Farmhouse by Pattersons; Ben in the Castle Rock House by Herbst Architects; a floor detail on the jury's visit to Futuna Chapel.

shows again how much you can achieve with a modest budget, which is always refreshing.

On Banks Peninsula, we visited the Scrubby Bay Farmhouse by Pattersons. I found this house incredibly beautiful. Proportionally there was a real kind of magic about the delicacy of these barn-like forms that just slipped one in front of the other in a strong sectional relationship sited in a completely spectacular bay. The plan of the house was understated and restrained, and that restraint was very powerful when matched by such a spectacular back-drop. The house also made beautiful use of wood, with a subtle scent of the macrocarpa cladding inside that was just magic for me. We saw homes on beautiful sites, but the subur-ban house by LO'CA in Wanaka was different. This is a house for a retired couple with a brief that was far from glamorous, but the architects managed to lift it by creating a kind of respect for the span of a couple’s life, and I was very touched by that. It wasn’t just the clever planning but the way in which the clients’ lives – their past as well as their future and the present – were mapped into the planning; I’ve never seen that done before. It made me think how important houses are as containers for your life and your history. Some of the houses we saw had an absence of the soul of the owners, and a house needs soul. This one had it. This is your first visit to New Zealand. What are your impressions of the country's architecture after a week here? It’s clear that the bach is a powerful genre, and we’ve seen it interpreted differently in extraordinary settings that are very particular to New Zealand. There is an incredible and inventive use of woods, which has been inspiring to me, and makes me want to explore that in our own work. But I worry that there’s a kind

of complacency in New Zealand’s architecture. I have seen some of the most spectacular sites in the world on this trip and some of the most extraordinary pieces of landscape – I don’t think I’ll ever see anything more beautiful. With that goes a huge responsibility to respond with an ambition that matches that drama and the beauty of the location. That responsibility is sometimes taken too much for granted. I think archi-tects need to remind themselves what a privilege it is to design in a piece of nature that is unsurpassable.

Clients, too, need to have that same sense of ambi-tion and responsibility in selecting their architect and in their own briefs. It’s not just about designing a house. You have to respond to the magnitude and power of nature at its most beautiful. Houses are rela-tively modest in scale but historically they have defined an architectural era, and not enough architects here feel that sense of potential. Architecture here is quite self-referential and it shouldn’t be, because what we’ve seen in this last week is a fantastic abundance of talent and inventiveness and clever thinking. Architects in New Zealand should be more ambitious in terms of their place internationally – you have a great tradition of house design that could be defining and having an influence on the rest of the world.

Lastly, do you have any thoughts about awards like this in general? The Home of the Year award is important because it’s not just about applauding excellence; it’s about mark-ing turning points in architects’ careers. The purpose of awards is to recognise talent and to lift the standards and advance the debate. The cross-section of projects we’ve selected for this, the Home of the Year issue, is testament to all of that.

Amanda Levete travelled to New Zealand thanks to the support of Altherm Window Systems, our Home of the Year sponsor.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of a quiet revolution that began to transform New Zealand architecture in 2004 – the nationwide uptake of the APL Architectural Series of windows and doors. This high-performance range represents a turn-ing point in how aluminium windows and doors were perceived and used. It introduced a level of sophistica-tion to a market that had focused almost exclusively on mainstream residential products that followed a one-size-fits-all template for the wide variety of homes that were being designed in New Zealand.

The APL Architectural Series was launched by APL (Architectural Profiles Ltd), the supplier of the Altherm brand, as a response to advocacy for a coordinated series of windows and doors that had aesthetic unity, increased size capability and special features. Designers were given greater flexibility in how and where products could be detailed. They were able to head off in bold directions that were rapidly endorsed by homeowners.

A high proportion of the homes shortlisted in this magazine’s Home of the Year award in the last decade have used the APL Architectural Series in striking

INSPIRED BY DESIGN, ALTHERM LEADS THE WAYHome of the Year sponsor Altherm Window Systems and its supplier Architectural Profiles (APL) celebrate a decade of design innovation.


Facing page This Altherm home in Queenstown was designed by Preston Stevens of McAuliffe Stevens Architects.

Left The APL Architectural Series was extensively used in this house by McCoy + Heine Architects.

Below This Altherm home at Raumati by Gil-plans Architecture used the Metro Series doors and windows.

Below left The Metro Series from Altherm was used in this coastal home by Design House Architecture.

applications and settings. This award, sponsored by APL brand Altherm Window Systems, is New Zealand’s richest architectural prize. Altherm’s sponsorship of the award is a sign of its and APL’s commitment to continue to innovate in its work with designers and their clients, developing products that continue to push the boundaries of what is possible.

APL’s innovation in their area means designers can now develop windows and doors to suit their unique home designs. Gone are the days when builders had to screw a simple track on to a timber frame and then install the fixed and sliding panels themselves.

The APL launch saw maximum door heights pushed up to 2.7 metres and beyond, the introduction of multiple stacking doors, corner sliders, over-wall applications and cavity sliding formats. A clean perimeter frame was introduced to simplify archi-tectural detailing. At door sills it became easier to have flush floor levels to blur the boundaries between indoors and outdoors.

The rapid uptake of the range highlighted the market’s appetite for further “market segmentation” – different products for different tastes and applications.

Designers were hungry for a bigger toolbox that allowed for expanded possibilities. Altherm followed up with the launch of the Metro Series, a mid-range product suite for architecturally designed projects. It catered for the increasing trend towards tall sliding door panels and sills with minimal upstands and simplified tracks.

The APL Architectural Series has not been content to rest on its laurels. A recent major design revi-sion adopting sliding door sills with flush tracks has coincided with another well-received innovation – the introduction of high-performance rollers perfectly suited to heavier panels that result from the more prevalent use of double-glazing.

“Inspired by design” is Altherm’s underlying philoso-phy, a way of thinking that informs its profile shapes, functionality and future product release plans.

HOME + ALTHERM WINDOW SYSTEMS

e3series™

AWARDED NEW ZEALAND

2012

AWARDED NEW ZEALAND

2014

ACCREDITEDINSTALLER

P R E S E N TS

IN ASSOCIAT ION WITH

heating and

insulation

LEADINGLIGHTHeating is easy in this zero-energy solar house.

How important is solar power in heating the house? BEN JAGERSMA, FIRST

LIGHT STUDIO The solar panels don’t play a major role, other than providing energy to run the ducted heating system. However, passive solar design means the wall, floor and window surfaces collect, store and distribute solar energy to keep the building warm in winter and cool in summer. The solar-powered system, sized for the US Solar Decathlon

2011 competition requirements, has a 6.3kW solar array with 28 polycrystalline photovoltaic panels that convert energy from the sun into electricity. The net-zero-energy house generates at least as much energy as it consumes.

What other heating systems did you choose? Through passive solar design we reduced the need for any form of heating, but for competition requirements we had to maintain a strict comfort band between 21.7°C and 24.4°C and below 60 percent relative humidity. To achieve this we designed a ducted heating system, which includes an energy-efficient heat pump capable of transferring up to 4kW of heat into the space, while consuming only 1kW of electri-cal energy. A highly efficient energy recovery system provides fresh ventilation for the house. Energy from air in the house is used to preheat or precool filtered fresh air coming into the building.

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PROJECT

Meridian First Light House

ARCHITECT

First Light Studio, firstlightstudio.co.nz

LOCATION

Waimarama, Hawke's Bay

How well does the heating sys-tem perform? Originally designed for Wellington and Washington DC climates and now in Hawke’s Bay, the heating system could be removed. Aside from the heat pump, there’s no cost to run the heating systems.

What insulation did you use? The entire house is insulated with a minimum of 250mm of recycled sheep wool in the floors, walls and roofs. This gives the house a thermal resistance value almost three times the code requirements. It’s naturally resistant to slumping when installed and is a uniquely New Zealand material.

When do you encourage clients to consider heating and insulation?From day one. Our aim is to maximise passive design principles to reduce or eliminate energy for heating and cooling. By doing this we can instantly reduce a home’s total energy use and environmental impact.

Originally designed for more extreme climatic

conditions but now located in Hawke's

Bay, the home's solar efficiency means the

heating system is barely required.

H:01 HEATING


H:02

What heating systems did you choose? BRONWEN KERR, KERR RITCHIE

ARCHITECTS Gas is reticulated at the street for underfloor and radiator central heating, and there’s a gas fire and small wood burner which are useful when you don’t want to heat the whole slab. If the house is being used for extended peri-ods, underfloor is the main heating in winter. Designed as a holiday home, it was important the heating system was easy to operate for a number of people. The client was keen to use gas as he had used it in other houses and didn’t have to monitor diesel or wood pellets.

How well is the system perform-ing? After some initial juggling, it’s working well. The gas boiler is an effi-cient condensing boiler and the house is warm in winter.

What insulation did you use? Pink Batts – R5 (thermal resistance value) in the ceiling and R4 in the walls, which are all above code.

How did you make the building more energy efficient? By maxim-ising glazing to the north, using the concrete floor to absorb heat, insulating the slab and edges and using above-code insulation.

How important is solar gain in keeping the house warm? It is very important here in the south. We have a lot of clear sunny skies, even though it’s cold outside, so plenty of opportunity to collect and retain the sun’s warmth.

Did you orient the home to retain solar heat? Planning was all about capturing the sun as much as possible. Luckily, although the site’s views are south, it also gets plenty of northern sun which we were able to capture, which can be difficult in Queenstown.

WARM WELCOMEA Queenstown holiday home caters to the seasonal ebb and flow.

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Queenstown holiday home

ARCHITECTS

Kerr Ritchie, kerrritchie.com

LOCATION

Queenstown

The home's gas fire can be used when the owners of this holiday home don't want to use the gas underfloor system to heat the entire floor slab.


How do you effectively heat a renovated villa? GUY TARRANT Passive solar gain with suitable thermal mass to absorb energy is a good place to start. Insulation in external walls and roof spaces is valuable. Consider double-glazing, although it wasn’t used here. In this villa, reasonable ceiling insulation existed so only external walls that were being re-built or re-lined where insulated.

With radiators and a fireplace, how effectively is the heating for the entire house? Water-heated radiators allow the addition and existing areas to be heated with the same system. The Jotul wood-burning fire provides additional support, as well as creating atmosphere. The clients report that the radia-tors are very effective, as is the fire.

What insulation did you choose? Greenstuff insulation was used in both the wall and ceiling spaces and exceeds Building Code requirements.

How did you make the building more energy efficient? It was as airtight and insulated as possible, and the tall volume with high glazing was designed specifically to maximise western solar gain. A sliding door at the top of the stairs allows upstairs and down-stairs spaces to be heated independently.

What stage in the process do you start encour-aging clients to think about heating and insulation? Always from the outset as fundamental principles such as solar gain and thermal mass need to be considered as part of the concept design.

NEW THINKINGA renovation by architect Guy Tarrant brings a villa up to standard.

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PROJECT

Villa renovation and extension

ARCHITECT

Guy Tarrant, guytarrant.co.nz

LOCATION

Mount Eden, Auckland

Water-heated radiators in the original and new parts of the house allow it to be heated with the same system. Used alongside insulation, passive solar gain and a fireplace, the cold, old villa is now warm all winter.

H:03 HEATING


How is the house heated? ANA O'CONNELL, LO'CA It’s designed to use the sun as much as possible. The exposed concrete ground floor and thick concrete wall in the dining area absorb solar heat and slowly release it as the house cools. Passive solar design is supplemented by in-slab radiant water heating powered by an air-to-water heat pump. A gas fire in the living room is for ambience only. We ensured the house works well in the hot summers and cold winters. Deep eaves and natural

H:04PROJECT

Lovell HouseARCHITECTS

Lovell & O'Connell Architects, loca.co.nz

LOCATION

Wanaka

SUNNY SIDE UPSeasonal extremes are easily managed in this brand-new Wanaka home.

cross ventilation prevent overheating in summer. With the passive solar design, the above-building code insulation and double glazing conserve heat in winter.

Was the house oriented to retain solar heat? It’s positioned to capture the winter sun. The design of the north and west windows and roof eave allow for this, and avoid summer solar gain.

How does the hydronic heating system work? It incorporates heating within a concrete floor slab and uses thermal mass to deliver low-temper-ature, uniform radiant heat. Heated water is pumped through continuous plastic pipework embedded 30-50mm in the slab and tied to steel reinforcing mesh. Water temperatures are between 40-60°C. Floor temperatures range from 20-29°C. The air-to-water heat pump is a 16kW split system. How well does the system perform? It performs well in combination with the thermal slab. It turns on at 4am and off at 9am and back on from 4.30pm to 10.30pm. The temperature is kept at

23°C and maintained during the day for the retired owners. Radiators in the upstairs bedrooms have never needed to be turned on. The monthly power bill averages about $200-$250, of which heating might be around $100-$150. Why did you install the system? It’s energy efficient, there’s less likeli-hood of condensation and radiant heat provides a subtle, even warmth. No space is taken up by a heating system.

What insulation did you use? Attention was paid to construction to reduce thermal bridging. For the roof and profiled metal-clad walls, which form a significant percentage area of the enclosure, two layers of Pink Batts ceiling blanket provide R3.5. Two layers of insulation (one between the rafters and the other between timber strap-ping) were used. R2.3 Composite Gold foam XPS is below the slab and behind the concrete shuttered wall. XPS is a closed-cell rigid board, which guaran-tees thermal performance of the floor, even if insulation gets wet. Cedar-clad walls have Pink Batts Ultra R2.9.

Maximising solar gain, the concrete floor acts

like a giant heat battery that slowly

releases warmth as the house cools.

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This Wanaka house uses underfloor

heating powered by an air-to-water

heat pump.

BREAKING NEW GROUNDFujitsu’s leading thermodynamic technology for the new e3 range dramatically reduces energy costs.

150/HOME NEW ZEALAND

Right As well as being ultra-efficient, the sophisticated styling of the Fujitsu e3 range fits seam-lessly within your home decor.

HOME COMFORT HAS JUST BECOME SUPER EFFICIENT

At the forefront of home heating, Fujitsu’s e3 heat-pump range features the company’s latest technologi-cal breakthroughs. According to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA), heat pumps are the most efficient way to heat your home, with better performing, more sophis-ticated technology that is already saving Kiwis approximately $58 mil-lion in electricity each year.

However, the new e3 heat-pump range takes efficiency to a whole new level, delivering more heat for less power than ever before. In fact, using a measurement called COP, the Fujitsu e3 heat pumps can now give you up to $4.92 for every $1 of power used. You can’t do better than that! As well as dollar savings, there are other rea-sons that have solidified the popularity

and demand for Fujitsu heat pumps in New Zealand. No other form of heating gives you the convenience of switch-ing to the temperature you want at the touch of a button. Additionally, Fujitsu heat pumps give you the ability to improve the air quality in your home. Providing a healthier environment – especially for families – has become a compelling factor for choosing this method of heating.

Fujitsu’s e3 series heat pumps have two clever air filters – one is the Apple Catechin filter, which uses static electricity to collect minute dust par-ticles and allergens, such as pollen, at the same time as suppressing bacteria. The second is a long-life deodorising filter that simply provides a fresher environment.

Fujitsu is the only heat pump com-pany recommended by Asthma New Zealand, which confirms how effective Fujitsu’s healthy air filters are.

Visit fujitsugeneral.co.nz for information on the breakthrough e3 heat pump range, to contact an Accredited Heat Pump Consultant, and request a free in-home con-sultation to discover the best technology for your individual needs.

H:05 HEATING

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HURRYMOTHER’S DAY MAY 11TH

Who has De'Longhi’s Fully Automated coffee machine range been designed for? RICHARD PADRON,

DE'LONGHI COFFEE SPECIALST It has been designed for both the novice and expert in mind and can also cater for the domestic and semi-commercial market. The idea behind the models in the range is to provide a great quality coffee with-out all the fuss involved with a manual machine. Anyone who uses a De'Longhi Fully Automatic machine can be a home barista in minutes.

What features set the machines apart from other automated options? Some of the greatest features incorporated in our machine are unique to De'Longhi. The Instant Frothing Device (IFD) technology allows the user to simply pour their favourite milk into the coffee cup for the machine to automatically heat and froth. Once the milk has been textured, freshly brewed coffee is dispensed into the cup to give you the perfect cappuccino, latte or flat white. From cup size, strength and length of coffee and milk pour, all our

PERFECTIONAT HOMEThe De'Longhi Fully Automated coffee machine range gives you the technology to become a barista in minutes.

Q&A with Richard Padron, De'Longhi coffee specialist

fully automatic coffee machines can be set to exactly how the user enjoys their coffee. For a true long black, the machines offer twin grind and twin extraction to produce a deep rich colour and golden crèma.

What can coffee aficionados expect from their machine? The range of product available can accommodate all users, from beginners to advanced baristas. Entry level machines are avail-able in a compact or full-size framework. Mid-level machines provide the option for the IFD and manual texturing device. The IFD is great for high volume use or beginners. Manual frothing is for the more advanced coffee drinker who really wants to master latte art. Top-range machines offer more flexibility in preprogramming coffee styles, such as insulated milk jugs, full colour display readout, and a hot chocolate function via dedicated IFD.

What are the big coffee trends at the moment? Styles and trends change with the seasons, but one thing

that stays constant is the requirement for good quality beans. The single origin trend is a big thing at the moment. Single origin beans from a dedicated plantation can provide a better result. Enhancing this result, De'Longhi takes pride in being able to really take care of the coffee bean with the technology in the Fully Automatic range. Our specially designed stainless steel conical burr grinder and perfect pressuring inside are unique. Back to trends, a newer one is called scooping. This is when the top of the crèma is scooped off the espresso before serving. It is sometimes served or infused with sparkling water.

Where can I go to find out more about De'Longhi’s Fully Automated coffee machine range? When you are in Auckland, check out the new De'Longhi Group Showroom where we have an expert brand ambas-sador to answer any questions, or visit any leading electrical retailer.

De'Longhi Cnr of Khyber Pass and

Nugent St, Auckland deLonghi.co.nz 0508 200 300


Right De'Longhi's patented Automatic Cappuccino System delivers the finest coffee.

Below right Coffee lovers are rewarded with rich and creamy flavours every time.

Below Bean-to-cup coffee makers are the perfect solution for home baristas who desire the best.

Centre Indulge in a delicious hot chocolate with the dedicated IFD function.

New Zealand's distinctive state houses from the 1930s and '40s are an enduring symbol of this country's egalitarian values. Modest houses, they were built from quality materials and with an emphasis on family and community. More than 75 years since the first state houses appeared, they are enjoying a renaissance as new generations of homeowners find ways to adapt their sturdy form for a more contemporary way of living. Beyond the State pays tribute to the New Zealand state house – and explores what it still offers us today.

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NZ TALENT AT HOME AND ABROAD

Simon Denny in Berlin

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Fiona Connor in Los Angeles

PLUS

Christchurch’s artistic reinvention

Exciting new eateries in Wellington

and Dunedin

Beautiful bathroom guide

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Once processed, all subscriptions are non-refundable. Rates include GST and postage. Please allow 6 weeks for delivery of your first magazine. Beyond the State orders will be sent to bill payer, unless noted when ordering. For

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style safari

PRESENT

2014

+

A day of design store tours and expert briefings guided by HOME editor Jeremy Hansen

FRIDAY MAY 16

$75Thanks to ASB Private Banking

HOME’s Style Safari is an exclusive day-long set of briefings on the latest design trends and releases from the

April Milan Furniture Fair, guided by HOME editor Jeremy Hansen. The

day commences at 9am and includes five design briefings at Auckland’s

most important design stores, finishing around 5pm. Lunch is included.

Numbers on the Style Safari are limited to 50, so reserve your tickets now.

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HOW TO BOOKBook your tickets online at eventopia.co/homestylesafari Each ticket costs $75 and includes lunch and our all-day Style Safari experience. For information, contact Jessica

Allan, 09 308 7441 or [email protected]

Mike Thorburn ECC LIGHTING + FURNITURE

Fresh back from Milan with a host of new purchases, the ECC head reports on

new design developments.

OUR GUEST SPEAKERS

Valeria Carbonaro-Laws

STUDIO ITALIA

The co-founder of Studio Italia reports on new

releases from the Milan Furniture Fair.

Michelle Backhouse BACKHOUSE INTERIORS

The co-owner of Backhouse Interiors on

new products from Kartell and other prestige brands.

Alan Bertenshaw MATISSE

Matisse’s co-founder reveals the newest

designs from their suite of luxury brands.

Sam Haughton IMO

The New Zealand firm on their design

process, new showroom and foray into kitchens.


Home Heating Showcase

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Kim

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(07)

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: 021

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133

, em

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xtra

.co.

nz

Bosca Wood Fires

For your nearest retailer, visit bosca.co.nz REINVENTING THE WOOD FIRE

The combined power of effi cient combustion technology and sleek, sophisticated curves produces a heating solution like no other.

With European-inspired designs, Bosca wood fi res add fi nesse to your living space while being kind on your pocket and the environment. Styles range from small to large, stainless steel to black - ready to suit your surroundings. Customisable, clean air approved, and affordable; Bosca simply proves you can have the best of everything.

Ph: (03) 366 8808 69 Gasson Street, Sydenham, Christchurch

www.ethosfi res.co.nz

Ethos WoodfiresPurposefully engineered to deliver ample heat with the

lowest emissions, Ethos Woodfi res are simply unlike any other. The main design elements of the unique Ethos technology produce an attractive, safe, effi cient and

cost-effective alternative to other conventionally designed, adapted technology log burners.

Offering a unique new standard in ultra-low emission woodfi re technology, together with raised public

awareness and higher consumer demand for a cleaner, greener woodfi re - Ethos Woodfi res have enjoyed

growing success around New Zealand.

Conveniently add warmth to your outdoor settings with HEATSCOPE™ heaters - green technology inspired by the sun. Elegant, sleek and long-lasting, the radiant heater of the next generation - HEATSCOPE™ transforms indoor and outdoor areas into cozy, pleasant environments.

Developed and produced exclusively in Germany, HEATSCOPE™ offers a beautifully shaped solution for effectively heating any covered outdoor areas. A special infrared technology allows creating a comfortably warm ambient climate without the emitting of any disturbing light. Available in both black and white.

Outdoor concepts

The Outdoor Heating Specialists

Ph: 0800 266 206 www.outdoorconcepts.co.nz77 The Strand, Parnell, Auckland

The Pyroclassic IV woodfi re has managed to stay at the top of its fi eld for over 30 years and is still the best fi re available today. It can give you up to 15kW of heat, provide 3.7kW of water heating and it even has the option to cook on the 10mm thick steel top plate, all this from the minimum amount of wood fuel and it can still give such an effi cient, clean overnight burn that there is very little ash and almost no emissions. The cleanest, most effi cient fi re is available from a selected number of distributors throughoutNew Zealand in over 150 different colours.

Please visit www.pyroclassic.co.nz to fi nd your nearest distributor, choose your colours and discover more about the best wood fi re available.

Pyroclassic Fires

Studio Fires

Available from Fires by Design: 09 273 9227 sales@fi resbydesign.co.nz and retailers nationwidewebsite: www.warmington.co.nz

The Studio series is the perfect compliment for both contemporary and traditional interiors, with a wide range of colours to choose from – there’s a Studio that’s right for your home.

Carbon neutral – sustainable resource.

Fires have been Clean Air approved with high heat output effi ciency and cooking option.Home heating without using National Grid.

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SOURCE – General

F U R N I S H I N G S

N E W S H I P M E N TViewing by appointment • Ph 09 360 9858 • 21 Ariki Street, Grey Lynn

www.europeanantiques.co.nz 360 Parnell Road, Parnell, Auckland 1151. Phone 09 365 1150 • Fax 09 365 1156Email [email protected] • www.midcentu rydes ign .co .nz

Dare to be different…Vintage American furniture,

unique lamps and accessories

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SOURCE – General

• Kitchen Design• Bathroom Design• Soft Furnishings• Colour Schemes

Studio and Showroom64 Vauxhall Rd Devonport

Interior Designer09 445 1098

www.designworxnz.co.nz

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Straw BaleHomes

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PO Box 28-700, RemueraPhone (09) 813 6192www.croninkitchens.co.nz

Visit our display kitchen at:

155 The Strand, Parnell.

WINNER 2013 CREATIVE EXCELLENCEAWARD FOR THE MOST INNOVATIVE KITCHEN

[email protected] www.locarno.co.nz

0800 LOCARNO or (09) 525 2525

We are notDecorators.

bonhaminterior.com

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Kim

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SOURCE - General

AUTHENTIC

INDUSTRIAL LIGHTING

GENUINE VITREOUS ENAMEL

BOUDI www.boudi.co.nz • 06 8780166

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Planting kits available from:www.plantandparcel.com

EXCITINGLY DIFFERENT0800 820 840

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With more than 15 years of building experience and an established reputation with an excellent team of qualifi ed sub-

contractors, Bungalow & Villa Renovation Specialists have the expert knowledge to turn

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Phone (09) 421-0352

Manufacturers of Custom made steel

• Furniture • Abstract art • Home interiors • Commercial fi t-outs

"The 1960s is my favourite period of architecture and Freyberg Pool is a classic form of the period. The building is strong, decidedly modernist, elegant and confident. Designed by Jason Smith from King & Dawson, it was built in 1963 with a butterfly roof and glass floor-to-ceiling walls. It’s a lovely building to be inside, flooded with light and beautiful views of the city and sea. In 2008 artist Victor Berezovsky was commis-sioned to paint ‘Portal’ to adorn the facade. It draws

attention to the building's simplicity and modernist design and adds another layer to its aesthetic. Well-conceived changes have been made to the structure, opening up the street side and introducing a cafe and juice bar to reflect contemporary city life. I love swim-ming so I spend a lot of time here, especially in winter when it’s too cold for the sea. If I don't go to the pools, I still drive home past Freyberg – it marks the point where I say goodbye to the city and hello to the sea.”

Art dealer Olivia McLeavey loves a Wellington landmark that's also an aquatic masterpiece.

PHOTOGRAPHY / Russell Kleyn

MY FAVOURITE BUILDING


ON NOW UNTIL 20 JULY

Image: Christian Thompson, Bidjarra/Kunja people, Black Gum 2 (from ‘Australian Graffiti’ series) (detail) 2008, Purchased 2008, Queensland Art Gallery Foundation Grant. Collection: Queensland Art Gallery.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

A Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Touring Exhibition

Adults $10 weekdays / $15 weekendsKids 12 and under free

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