Houzz Tour: Expansive Harbour Views From a House on Stilts
This contemporary house in Christchurch shows just what can be built if the steep gradient of a site is used to advantage
Tim and Elizabeth Kelleher and their designer Tobin Smith of CoLab Architecture, weren’t put off by the steep, wedge-shaped site they’d chosen to build on high above Lyttelton. This charmingly scruffy port town just outside Christchurch is known for its pretty Victorian cottages, steep hills and feisty, creative residents.
The Kellehers didn’t want a cottage, and they rather liked the view, so they saw this place as an opportunity to build something simple and contemporary that would show off their collection of New Zealand design pieces – and provide a robust home for their family.
The Kellehers didn’t want a cottage, and they rather liked the view, so they saw this place as an opportunity to build something simple and contemporary that would show off their collection of New Zealand design pieces – and provide a robust home for their family.
Regular workout aside, there was good thinking behind the plan. “The views are out to the south and the hills are to the north, and it was just so important to capture as much sun as possible,” says Smith. “By detaching the house, it meant it could be positioned further up the site, and that helped for both the view and the sunlight.”
Effectively, the rear of the house opens to the north for warmth – as seen here on the back deck, which is drenched in sunlight for most of the day. It’s double glazed to the south and east as well, which means you can look through the house to see the view while sitting in a lovely pool of warm sunshine on the back deck, something of a rarity in Lyttelton.
Liaison sofa by Nonn: Simon James Design; Flyover coffee table, Spar floor light: Resident
Effectively, the rear of the house opens to the north for warmth – as seen here on the back deck, which is drenched in sunlight for most of the day. It’s double glazed to the south and east as well, which means you can look through the house to see the view while sitting in a lovely pool of warm sunshine on the back deck, something of a rarity in Lyttelton.
Liaison sofa by Nonn: Simon James Design; Flyover coffee table, Spar floor light: Resident
Despite the early decision to build at the top of the site, the design of the house has evolved significantly since the Kellehers started back in 2010. Originally, Smith designed a thick concrete retaining wall that would act both as the back wall of the house and a retaining wall for the hill, with a lightweight timber living space sitting on top of it. Eventually, he abandoned that plan, pulling the house away from the hill with a ground floor (housing two bedrooms and a bathroom) that sits on a concrete base, and a top floor that sits on long poles that go down into the bedrock.
Smith changed his mind for two reasons: the cost of digging and retaining would have blown the budget, and in the years after the earthquakes, Smith noticed how many of the most damaged houses had heavy concrete retaining walls similar to the one he’d designed. In short, when the land moved, the houses didn’t – cracking and ultimately rendering them irreparable. This place is much more lightweight. “It allows the site to move around it,” he says, “but it also makes the house look like it’s sitting on stilts.”
This is an important consideration for a little house at the top of a steep hill. Quite often, houses on steep sites look ugly and oversized from below. It’s not so much of a problem if your approach is from above, but when you approach the house from climbing up the hill, you don’t want a big block looming over you. “Because we’re entering from the bottom, it has to look elegant as well,” says Smith.
From below, the house looks recessive and lightweight and floats above the plantings. It’s a simple black-stained cedar box, which slowly reveals itself as you climb up the timber stairs and come to the front door.
From below, the house looks recessive and lightweight and floats above the plantings. It’s a simple black-stained cedar box, which slowly reveals itself as you climb up the timber stairs and come to the front door.
On entering the house, you instantly get an idea of the way in which the Kellehers and Smith collaborated to create something a bit special. The construction of the house was simple – basic, even, but cleverly thought through. “We used construction techniques that were straightforward and cost-effective,” says Smith. The walls are GIB (gypsum plasterboard), windows are double-glazed and aluminium framed, and the floor is suspended oak.
Teti White lights: Artemide
Teti White lights: Artemide
The Kellehers and Smith were able to add impact via many small touches throughout the house. These were realised by Elizabeth’s brother, James Turner of Maelstrom Design, who crafted a myriad of small details for them – including the custom-made oak handrail seen here. These sorts of things tend to be what builders charge you a fortune to create – usually because they’ve never done it before and would rather give you a standard one. Here, the stairs lead up from the ground-floor entry (where there are two bedrooms and a small bathroom) to the second-floor living area, two more bedrooms and another bathroom.
The combination of these small, custom details combined with some clever thinking works wonderfully with the Kellehers’ collection of New Zealand design.
Here, windows either side of the hall on the top level allow light to penetrate down into the stairwell, which otherwise could have been a gloomy space. The area is further enlivened by walls of plywood cladding, one of which backs onto the kitchen, and which enhance the display of a beautiful mobile by New Zealand designer Jamie McLellan for Resident.
Here, windows either side of the hall on the top level allow light to penetrate down into the stairwell, which otherwise could have been a gloomy space. The area is further enlivened by walls of plywood cladding, one of which backs onto the kitchen, and which enhance the display of a beautiful mobile by New Zealand designer Jamie McLellan for Resident.
Upstairs, the ply wraps around the corner and into the kitchen area along the back cabinets. The kitchen island is built from a black steel frame with black-faced melamine panels instead of steel. To build using steel would have been prohibitively expensive, but this does the trick nicely.
AJ Royal Pendant light: Louis Poulsen
It’s not a huge space – but the volume of this living area is greatly increased by the raked ceiling, which follows the roofline up to the north to bring in the sun. To the right is a small hallway leading to a back bedroom. To the left is a hall leading to the upstairs bathroom and master bedroom.
In a corner of the living room, Smith designed a wall of cabinetry to house books, art and some of the Kellehers’ collection of New Zealand art. There’s also a small wood burner and a handily stacked pile of firewood to feed it.
All the joinery in the living room is built from birch ply, which is relatively hard-wearing and comes with a beautifully restrained, Nordic sort of feel. Here, the Kellehers and Smith developed a bookshelf with beautiful dowels in between the shelves and black inserts to house firewood – basic materials, used in a confident, creative way. It’s touches like this that make the place feel special – carefully thought through but not extravagant.
The master bedroom is on the top floor, and has a glorious view of the working harbour to the south-east.
In the upstairs bathroom, a walk-through shower leads to a generous bath, above which is a raked ceiling featuring a skylight – it’s a little like an inverted pyramid, spilling light down into the shower. A recessed mirrored cabinet sits above the sink, providing plenty of storage. The nook below is a handy place for the inevitable detritus of family bathrooms.
Bedrooms are spacious, with big windows to drag in sun. In the upstairs bedroom seen here, there’s a high stud and a west-facing window catching a hint of the port.
Pendant 45 light: David Moreland
Pendant 45 light: David Moreland
Smith designed a small balcony along the front of the house. It’s south-facing so in inclement weather it’s particularly exposed, but on a fine day, with boats in the port, it’s a perfect little spot in which to sit and relax and take in the glorious view.
TELL US
Would you walk up a steep driveway to live in this beautiful house? Tell us in the Comments section.
TELL US
Would you walk up a steep driveway to live in this beautiful house? Tell us in the Comments section.
Who lives here: Tim and Elizabeth Kelleher, with Shepard, 7, Theo, 4, and Isabel, 6 weeks
Location: Lyttelton, Christchurch
Size: 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
From the outset, the Kellehers were actively involved in the look and feel of the place. This wasn’t surprising given that Tim is one of the directors of web design business Sons & Co, which is known for its clean-lined graphic style. “Once we had the design tabled, there was heaps of back and forth,” says Smith of the collaborative approach. “We had the spaces locked down but we didn’t have the rest. In fact, we were designing the rest as the house was under construction.”
The site had problems that many architects in New Zealand have had to deal with: the view was to the south, and the sun was behind a hill – in fact, parts of Lyttelton don’t see any direct sunlight at all in the depths of winter. To counter this, Smith convinced the Kellehers to separate their house from their car space, by placing the house as far up the steep section as possible in order to grab as much sun as they could. In practice, this means parking at the bottom of the slope and walking up a wooden boardwalk to the front door.