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Contained within from New Home Trends volume 2513
What at first seems like a challenge can sometimes be the catalyst for a great result. Local council regulations and a small site can inspire rather than restrict the architecture of a home.
Architects Wilson and Hill were approached by a couple who wanted to build a new home behind the existing one on their subdivided property.
Although it is limited in size, the site's orientation is excellent, as the north-facing side also backs onto a public park, says architect David Hill.
"But it was an exercise in constraint," he says. "As well as planning regulations, there were privacy issues because of close boundaries with neighbours. Alongside the vision for a modern home, the design also had to meet the demands of a family of four."
These factors resulted in a strong geometric design – a framed box that contains a compact, two-storey dwelling with living areas that enjoy all-day sun and park views.
A stained cedar exterior frames the structure. Hill says the owner sourced 6m-long boards that allowed a more streamlined surface with fewer joins. Thick and dark, the cladding reinforces the solidity of the form. Deep overhangs at the front and rear provide protection from the sun and rain, as well as obscuring sightlines from adjacent properties.
To maintain privacy, the facade, which faces the existing house, is fitted with small windows and a large cedar panel in front of the entrance. A projecting form houses the stairwell, with glazed walls on either side to let light in.
At the rear of the house, full-length windows and sliding doors open to a terrace and the park beyond, bathing the living areas in natural light. From inside, the overhang defines the outlook.
The interior continues the contemporary theme, with an open-plan living space and a raw material palette. Concrete is predominant throughout – it is featured on the terrace, the interior ground-level floors, and internal structural walls. As well as providing texture, these walls and floors act as heat sinks, retaining solar energy and releasing it back into the house as the temperature cools. Underfloor heating keeps the house warm in winter.
The internal concrete block columns also delineate living areas within the open plan.
Wall panels of translucent glass, a cantilevered tread staircase with a stainless steel rod balustrade and glass floor panels all help keep the interior of the house light.
The pared-back interior design includes built-in cabinetry, which maintains the clean lines. Restrained colours and subtle textural contrasts befit the contemporary style of the architecture.
However, furniture and furnishings belong to new owners, as the house was sold not long after completion. Its open-plan layout and raw material palette make an effective backdrop for their extensive collection of art and accessories, including mid 20th-century designer furniture pieces, which formerly featured in their apartment in New York.
This cedar-framed home, which fits snugly on a tight suburban site, is designed with privacy in mind. Narrow windows on the facade give little hint of the open, light-filled interior. A protruding block with concrete and glazed sides contains the stairwell.
The house opens out at the rear of the property, which is north-facing and looks onto a park. A suspended cedar-slat shade offers more protection from the sun.
A Mies van der Rohe day bed is dappled in sunlight shining in through the trees. Built-in concrete shelving by the hearth continues the material palette and clean lines. The cedar cladding forms part of an internal wall, and another connection with the outdoors.
The raw palette is an effective backdrop for the owners' contemporary furniture and art collection.
Concrete walls and floors act as heat sinks and release warmth back into the house as the temperature cools.
Natural light is maximised in the design. The stairwell has glass walls on two sides and cantilevered treads. Further inside the house, translucent glass panels divide the living spaces without compromising light, and the polished concrete floor is highly reflective. Built-in cabinetry is American oak, introducing a blond tone to the grey of the concrete and the white-painted walls.
A panel of glass in the floor of the upper landing lets light into the back of the living room below and makes a visual connection between the floors. A photograph by Canadian Edward Burtynsky hangs in this niche between the master bedroom and bathroom.
Floor-to-ceiling north-facing windows provide plenty of light in the master bedroom on the upper floor. Two additional bedrooms on this level also look north.
Gound level
Level one
Site plan
Much of the storage and shelving is built in, such as the concrete shelving around the hearth, and the American oak cupboard at left. This keeps architectural lines clean and the interior clutter-free.
A varnished cedar awning offers shade to the main living space. The indoor-outdoor connection is enhanced by the use of similar flooring materials – polished concrete inside and exposed aggregate outside.
Projecting out slightly from the rest of the house, this nook is used as an informal TV room.
This view from the side of the house shows the varied material palette of glass, timber and concrete.
A translucent glass panel partly screens off the TV room, as well as diffusing some of the natural light.
Credit List
Architect
:
David Hill and Stuart Hay, Wilson and Hill Architects (Christchurch)
Cladding
:
Vertical cedar shiplap boarding from ITM Kaiapoi
Roofing
:
Butynol by Thomas Roofing
Ground-level flooring
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Inside, polished concrete; outside, exposed aggregate
Custom-made cabinetry
:
American oak
Dining table
:
Custom-made, crystal-infused plastic resin top
Dining room chandelier
:
Arko
Story by Lori Nims and Frederique Gulcher
Photography by Jamie Cobeldick
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