When you move to a plush new apartment in one of Auckland City's most desirable suburbs, you pretty much expect the best of everything. And when the right architect, constructor, and products are involved, that will be the outcome.
Multi-award winning architectural company Julian Guthrie Architecture designed the luxury apartments 305 Tamaki Drive, Kohimarama, with build and interiors by Scarbro Residential.
Ideally positioned across the road from Kohimarama's sandy beachline, the three apartments feature open, light-filled interiors with stacker sliders opening to spacious decks or patios. There is also a central entrance and feature stair for the upper units, and large basement garages.
Julian Guthrie says the site has a long frontage and the apartments are laid out to maximise the seaviews and to capture the sun.
"The black facade offers a privacy shield and references the local volcanic rock sea wall. White plaster complements the black and is a typical seaside tone, while the use of exposed aggregate also references the sea wall.
"An articulated face breaks up the building's length in visual terms and creates intimate outdoor deck and patio areas."
The solid apartments are in structural steel and precast panel, including precast flooring with a topping slab. Aluminium joinery complements the two-tone facade while the roof is in plywood with a waterproof membrane.
Scarbro undertook the construction of the building, apartment fit-outs, and the finishing, says director at Scarbro Residential Peter Davis.
"Despite the occasional design tweak along the way – the steel staircase was a late inclusion, for example – the construction of the minimalist concrete and steel building went smoothly."
Potentially tricky issues taken in Scarbro's stride included working around an adjacent protected Moreton Bay Fig tree, controlling the water table during the build due to being right next to the waterfront, and installing the structural steel staircase and full-height glazing when the roof was already in place. The heavy staircase would more often have been craned in before the roof was built.