Emergent Forms | A house in the Matata hills. We feel tremendously privileged to work on projects like this - with amazing clients, where there is a genuine connection, shared values and a spectacular site to treat with the utmost respect. Located at The Matata Conservation Estate, the site abounds native vegetation with breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean, Moutohora (Whale) Island and glimpses of Putauaki (Mount Edgecumbe) captured between the trees. The brief - a celebration of simple living, a rationalised programme and reverence to the site and its context - was shared with trust and respect for our holistic approach. As a result, two buildings emergent from a diagrammatic exploration of the site morphology, access to sunlight and positive response to the views. Robust, low-maintenance materials establish a shared language between the garage and main house - and a common goal: to seemingly integrate the building in its context, subduing its presence and emphasising the views.
Our third project at Ruapehu Downs sits in a unique site in the subdivision. The approach is a journey of discovery, where its features gradually reveal themselves: an extended driveway enclosed by Manuka trees create a sense of expectation, slowly revealing a clearing, culminating with framed views of Mount Ruapehu.
Informed simplicity - the principle of conveying a design solution without emphasising the difficulties it has surmounted - is the concept undergirding our new project in the Hunua Ranges.
Surrounded by abundant native bush on its Southern quadrant, a mountain range on the Northern and idyllic frame views of the Ness Valley to the West, the place called for an unobtrusive structure - one that sat with respect for its context. The clients' brief: a DOC hut-like building, utilitarian in nature, to provide shelter for visiting friends and hikers to explore the surroundings and experience new ways of inhabiting beyond conventional suburban dwellings.
The form, the materials and colour palette aimed to integrate the building to the variegated bushline. The plywood lined interior expresses the robust quality found in the DOC huts. The organisation of the spaces sustain a visual connection with the bush and valley whilst also providing flexibility to its users.
Sneak-peek from an ongoing concept, which received very positive feedback from the clients! Coastal, contemporary, minimalist - but not rigid - to name a few of concepts and ideas we derived from the clients brief, here expressed in the clean lines of the rectangular facade. A trapezoidal subtraction clad in timber draws users towards the front door whilst also balancing the rigidness of the white brick walls. The latter, the result of a privacy concern, will become a canvas for tropical landscaping. Recycled bricks to exterior paving areas add texture and playfulness to an otherwise neglected dimension of the building. More to come. Watch this space.
After many iterations, each with different degrees of success, we ultimately found the fittest solution on a change of typology.
The essence of the original concept remains: to express the emblematic mid-century modernist architecture - resonant to the clients who have spent many years overseas including California, where, arguably, the most iconic manifestations of that architectural style are found.
In this context, Palm Springs Boulevard, Papamoa - referencing the place where that architecture was most made manifest - the adoption of the mid-century style was, paradoxically, an act of dissent against the orthodoxy of the "fast architecture" - prevalent in the area.
Inspired by the iconic Doc huts, this building is defined by its pragmatic program: to provide essential shelter for a small family, with the main living area organised around the fireplace, bunk beds and a breezeway, which provides living potential with intermediate protection from the elements. Its colour references the many emblematic New Zealand mountain huts, facilitating its identification in the landscape and reinforcing the local vernacular.
