We have high quality standards, and we work with purpose and dedication always keeping an eye on exciting opportunities.
Citation: Crisp steel pavilions create a unique fishing holiday experience on the banks of the Tongiriro river. A nod to NZ rural vernacular and a combination of local natural materials are harmonised with care and delicacy. The conditions of harsh climate and the demands of fishing and entertaining have been balanced with care to produce a successful and interesting assembly.
Alterations and Additions. An aging volume builder home has been wrapped, extended and rebooted. No easy task – given the askew site orientation seeking glimpses of sea and bulky neigbours – but one that has been achieved with a sure and deft hand.Through a carefully considered addition and calmly composed details, this formerly nondescript beach home has been given a wonderful second life. It is testimony to architecture’s ability to rise above constraints and limitations.
Citation: A deliberately relaxed approach to the beach holiday is exemplified in this confident scheme. A loose arrangement of three dissimilar buildings has created a fourth communal living space at the crossroads of the family activity. Deliberate positioning has provided flexibility of shelter from wind and sun, with alternative covered boardwalk access between buildings.
Citation: A complete redevelopment of an existing house over a number of years has resulted in a warm and inviting family home. Little trace of the original house is now evident. The right of way location has been dealt with by forming a screened pool terrace for a private outdoor living area. Materials sympathetic to the context have been used for the exterior cladding while being contemporary in their use.
Citation: Pure vernacular forms delicately placed within the landscape. The simple gable forms are offset in plan to each other and along with the transecting entrance, lobby/loggia/pergola generate a series of dynamic external spaces. These accommodate a variety of uses and afford shelter from the carrying weather conditions. Well constructed with astute attention to detail.
The client asked for a house, not an apartment, and all on one floor – even though the site is steeply pitched and was all but impossible to fit anything onto. But “all but” was good enough for Wendy Shacklock, who carved into the hillside, cantilevered the grand front room with its magnificently sweeping views over Hobson Bay, and shaped the land around the rest of the house so it all opens onto a long, flowing lawn. In the bedroom wing, each room has its own external door, and the internal hallway leading to them is exquisitely proportioned. And in the heart of the house there’s a large external fieplace-barbecue area, also looking out to the bay and to the pōhutukawa all around. Perfect for those long relaxed summer evenings; perfect also for warm outdoor living in the colder months and for easy shade during the day. Down a steep, winding, shared private road, this house is hard to get to, but once you’re there you wonder if ther’s any good reason you should ever leave.
Citation: Occupying a ‘dress circle’ beach-front location, this cleverly detailed holiday home takes full advantage of the magnificent sea views from almost every room, while maintaining a respectful distance from the road. The new beach house caters for the needs of the multi-generational clients and will provide a relaxed adaptable holiday destination for an expanding family for generations to come.
Citation: Built on a remarkable but also challenging site, and moving coastal design on from the pavilion, this elegant house subjugates itself to its strategic location by clinging long and low to the cliff edge. A considerate neighbour in its island community, its form is also a considered response to its marine environment; after all, for every Mediterranean day there are others dominated by a maddening wind. Outside, there’s a striking, rugged materiality. Inside, the house is handsome, expansive and confident, its serene tone achieved by the controlled use of a limited range of materials. The sweeping form of the wooden roof unites it all with technical adroitness.
Citation: This confident and restrained, yet very small intervention, has had an enormous impact on a holiday home designed by Lillian Chrystall in the early 1990s. It has opened previously unused aspects of the site, bringing a sense of the theatrical to daily tasks. The addition is an assemblage of three inverted spaces, packed tightly but each with an orientation independent of the other. With “their backs to each other”, the spaces each provide an elevated platform. This atypical planning approach provides delight and awe, proving that, when done well, minor intervention can be as powerful as over-scaling.
Citation: An elegantly executed extension to an existing bungalow, 2nd on 2nd adds extra space to a tight site while preserving the character of the existing house. A modern interpretation of the house’s existing materials means the addition compliments its earlier self in a calm and cohesive manner. The new form and façade connect to the old, with clever use of overhangs, eyebrows and pockets to make the most of the northern aspect. Through considered choice of materials and planning, this alteration adds value and charm.