From the building designer:

The brief

The homeowners wanted a simple family home connecting family and the environment on this special Waikato site.

Interior spaces were to allow for family connection but also provide privacy for adults and children alike – a sanctuary for adults and freedom for growing children.

All the spaces need connection to the environment, allowing space for the children to come and go while interacting with the interior living.

The site demanded the home take advantage of the multiple views on offer.

Simple platforms were preferred to allow for a shorted construction timeline, but material selections needed to offer depth and detail.

The design solution

The site – on the edge of a large embankment and elevated with extended views east over the city beyond – evoked a design philosophy based on forming a long, low room.

This simple form allows the spaces to connect to the environment, offers light open spaces and could be orientated to flood every room with morning sun.

This long north/south orientated form also provides protection from the western and southern winds.

The home pivots around a small but crucial entry space, linking the interior spaces with minimal hallways.

All areas of home, divided by key function, hinge from this point.

Children head east up the stair, parents to the sanctuary to the south, and all gather together in the living area to the north.

The first floor “Kids Box” pivots 90° in plan from the ground floor, generating a generous cantilever to the East and West.

To the West, the exposed steel structure and cantilever provide a carport area and sheltered entry while the cantilever to the East floats over the receding bank line with no visible structure.

The living and kitchen areas flow out into this suspended shelter.

Full height glazing to the East and North, paired with exaggerated eaves, provides the desired link of interior spaces to the simple timber decks, exterior landscaping, and views beyond.

Multiple exterior spaces facilitate multiple activities with various exposures.

A larch batten exterior rain screen encases the ground floor, concealing the entry door and providing an aesthetically natural skin.

Larch battens continue into the interior ceilings, with recessed LED strip lights between the battens, hidden from view.

In the way the first floor opposes the ground floor in plan, the purpose-built geometric aluminium screen – often referred to as the ‘’Scales’’ – adds further juxtaposition, contrasting the natural skin below.

The geometric and experimental Scales screen captures reflected light from the pool and the sunlight throughout the day, creating ever changing visual interest while also reducing solar gain on the first-floor exterior walls.

Every room has a generous view of the Waikato, including spectacularly from the ensuite.

With a massive over cladding sliding door the entire bathing and showering experience is connected to the environment beyond!