Houzz Tour: An Out-of-the-Ordinary Layout Solves a Tricky NZ Site
Twists and turns were required for this modernist-industrial Auckland house to achieve the owners' vision
Skewed angles and clever spaces were woven together to create a moody but marvellous new home in Auckland’s Kohimarama. Dorrington Atcheson Architects dug deep to design a house with a difference, overcoming a steeply sloped site and a lack of privacy from an imposing house next door. The plan deviates from the open-plan trend and veers away from plasterboard, door handles and light-filled spaces too. Instead, spaces unfold and surprise as you move through the house, each serving a purpose and adding to the Zen-like feel of the home.
Architecturally, the home is contemporary with industrial, purposeful features. The flooring in the entry is stained strandboard, which reappears elsewhere in the home.
A dramatic stairway with a raw-steel balustrade leads down to the dining room. With each shaft of steel weighing many kilograms, architect Tim Dorrington says constructing the stairway was one of the challenging aspects of the build.
During the design phase, the owners presented their architects with a wishlist of 32 items and a selection of photos to communicate the look and feel they wanted. Most important was for the house to have a ‘modernist-industrial’ aesthetic, and that the design follow the lie of the land. That ruled out the obvious solution of carving into the steeply sloped site to create a flat platform on which to build the home. “We had a site that sloped form north to south, with south being low, over the narrow dimension of the site,” says Dorrington. “And then it needed to fit within a two-metre plus 35-degree sun angle; this was quite challenging.”
Plasterboard wasn’t an option for this house – the owners weren’t into it – so the architects played with a series of other interior industrial-style finishes. Pre-cast concrete, plywood sheeting, steel trusses, ground concrete floors, raw waxed steel, black-stained cedar, and stained strandboard all feature. Several of these materials were also used on the exterior.
Panton dining chairs add serious style to the dining room, along with a custom-designed bench by Sam Bethel of Dockside 37.
Panton dining chairs add serious style to the dining room, along with a custom-designed bench by Sam Bethel of Dockside 37.
The home is divided into two blocks – one for the bedrooms and study and one for the living, dining and kitchen areas – and they’re joined in the middle by the stairway.
Of the three bedrooms, one is used as a yoga room and another as a guest room/music room. The main bedroom has an ensuite, and there is an additional bathroom. There are two living spaces – a main living area and a secondary ‘snug’ space tucked behind the kitchen.
A garage, laundry and guest bathroom are in the basement. “The owners enjoy kayaking and a wide range of other outdoor activities, so required a decent-sized garage/storage space for the related equipment,” says Dorrington.
The house was divided into three parts, then “twisted and shaped” to comply with height-to-boundary regulations. Mini-courtyards connect the three volumes and bring light into the home. “The house is a response to its site,” says Dorrington. “The site had some challenging planning restrictions that affected the available space to locate the house; this led to us introducing a collection of concrete blades and timber forms to step between and within the available planning envelope.”
The raw steel balustrade taps into the industrial look the owners wanted. “It’s also a natural material in its raw form; we like natural materials working with each other and the slight blue tinge is also a lovely addition to the colour/material palette,” says Dorrington.
The kitchen sits in its own pod in between the living and dining areas. “There is a famous Pierre Koenig house in the Hollywood Hills that features a kitchen pod sitting in the middle of the main lounge area,” Dorrington says. “We all liked this, in that it separated and defined space around it, but also contained the kitchen – we took this idea and got creative around materiality and colour.”
To Dorrington, the kitchen is a little like a Kinder Surprise – the chocolate egg with a yellow capsule inside containing a toy. The owners vetoed cabinet and door handles in the home for fear they would look dated over time. The benchtops are utilitarian stainless steel.
To Dorrington, the kitchen is a little like a Kinder Surprise – the chocolate egg with a yellow capsule inside containing a toy. The owners vetoed cabinet and door handles in the home for fear they would look dated over time. The benchtops are utilitarian stainless steel.
Steel roof trusses were requested from the outset, but the plywood ceiling adds warmth. “Plywood ages with you; over time it gains a patina,” says Dorrington. “This to our mind enriches the material and the experience of the material. Something like painted gib, on the other hand, doesn’t develop a patina – it develops scratches and dents, which then need to be repaired.”
Rug: Sallee
Rug: Sallee
The kitchen may be separate, but a pass-through window enables easy delivery of food. The same stained strandboard used on the hallway floor envelops the kitchen.
A theatrical red velvet curtain encloses a snug TV room. This a house that dares to be different.
A wood-fired stove makes this inviting room all the more cosy in winter.
When the curtains are open, the TV room connects easily with the kitchen and dining areas. Otherwise, it’s a room unto itself. And perfect for movie viewing.
Yellow pops up throughout the house in lighting, accessories and cabinetry, but isn’t overdone.
Ivan Woods black ‘Toro Badjo’ sofa: Kada
Ivan Woods black ‘Toro Badjo’ sofa: Kada
Modernist and retro accessories and artwork give the home a personality of its own.
The familiar plywood and stained strandboard has been used in the home’s three bedrooms, linking all areas of the home together.
Pictured here, the owners use one of the bedrooms as their yoga room, while another doubles as a music room with a murphy bed built into the wall for guests.
A sculpture by Christiaan Pausma turns one of the courtyards into a masterpiece.
The mini-courtyards subtly separate spaces and allow light to penetrate into the home. “We also like the sort of homely, room-type feel a courtyard can give when compared to a front or backyard,” says Dorrington.
The ragged edging to the decks was designed to soften them. “The clients were on board straight away,” says Dorrington. “They had lots of ideas of their own but were very open to our ideas too. It was a great collaboration.”
The build came in on budget, the owners love it and, from an aesthetic and architectural point of view, Dorrington says he’s very happy with the feeling and type of spaces that have been created. “There’s a lot of borrowing from one space to the next, which we were pretty certain would all work, but seeing how it all works in the final built form is not so much a relief but certainly we are happy that it worked as planned!”
The build came in on budget, the owners love it and, from an aesthetic and architectural point of view, Dorrington says he’s very happy with the feeling and type of spaces that have been created. “There’s a lot of borrowing from one space to the next, which we were pretty certain would all work, but seeing how it all works in the final built form is not so much a relief but certainly we are happy that it worked as planned!”
The house is angular so the landscaping is more fluid by design. The structure is orientated to receive sun from the north and privacy all around. “The site is very much overlooked by the neighbouring house, a tall monolithic building on the north boundary, so this had to be factored into the design,” Dorrington says.
Passive-solar principles were incorporated in the form of concrete thermal masses and carefully placed windows for cross ventilation.
Passive-solar principles were incorporated in the form of concrete thermal masses and carefully placed windows for cross ventilation.
Overhangs to the north allow for large opening sliding doors without being affected by weather.
The bathroom vanities are laminate-coated ply and the walls are clad in Seratone. Elsewhere the cabinetry is a mixture of clear-finished gaboon marine plywood and clear-coated steel sheet.
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More
Don’t miss last week’s Illinois My Houzz: Light and Balance in a 1950s Ranch Renovation
What do you love about this home? Tell us in the Comments. And don’t forget to save your favourite images, like the story, and join the conversation.
More
Don’t miss last week’s Illinois My Houzz: Light and Balance in a 1950s Ranch Renovation
Who lives here: A professional couple in their 40s
Size: 190-square-metre house on a 1,116-square-metre site
Architect: Dorrington Atcheson Architects
Builder: Practec Builders
Awards: 2018 NZIA Auckland Architecture Awards – Housing category
The vertical cedar cladding on the humble facade presents a discreet first impression from the street and gives away little about the surprising spaces that reveal themselves as you move into and through the house.