Space engineering

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New home has generous and comfortable sense of space despite its small size

Spatially, the living wing aligns with the north, door, house, interior design, real estate, window, brown — Spatially, the living wing aligns with the north, capturing views to the Kaikoura mountains across the estuary and ocean.https://trendsideas.com/stories/space-engineering

The owner of this home on a lower architecture, arecales, cottage, estate, facade, home, house, palm tree, property, real estate, sky, villa, brown, blue

The brief for the design of this home architecture, building, facade, home, house, real estate, residential area, siding

Exposing the flooring as the structure itself, which cabinetry, countertop, floor, flooring, furniture, interior design, kitchen, room, table, gray

This home challenges the ideals of larger house floor, flooring, interior design, living room, room, wood flooring, brown

Space engineering - bathroom | bathroom accessory | bathroom, bathroom accessory, bathroom cabinet, home, interior design, room, sink, gray, black

The home embraces the views yet considers privacy, apartment, architecture, balcony, condominium, deck, home, house, outdoor structure, property, real estate, reflection, roof, sky, wood, black

We aimed to design a building that would architecture, building, facade, home, house, real estate, siding, sky, wood, brown, black

The L-shaped floorplan was a natural response to architecture, building, elevation, estate, facade, home, house, property, real estate, residential area, siding, window, black, brown

Designed by Aaron Jones, Urban Function

From the designer:

We were asked to design a small dwelling for a lower slope, hillside site in Mt Pleasant, Christchurch – our client felt he didn't need a large home to replace his existing 260m² earthquake destroyed house and had a strict budget with basic functional requirements.

The brief was relatively open, albeit restrictive with the budget and a site with large quantities of bedrock.

We were asked to deliver a home that embraced the views yet considered privacy, that challenged the larger dwelling mentality around space requirements and provided a small, light, open hillside ‘cabin’ that felt rustic and was reminiscent of DOC tramping huts.

Design Response:

We aimed to design a building that would nestle into its natural setting, open up to the north and west to maximise solar gain and have different view aspects from every space.

The L-shaped floorplan was a natural response to both the topography and views of the site. It provides shelter from prevailing winds and maximises views to the north overlooking the ocean to Kaikoura and west across the city.

The site had geotechnical challenges with bedrock and with a strict budget fundamental to the project being realised, we searched for creative structural solutions with our structural engineers.

The response was to specify CLT floor panels with large spans that cut the piling required in half. To further reduce cost and embrace the structural components we decided to expose the flooring as the structure itself, which also tied into the rugged ‘hut’ rhetoric the client wanted.

This home challenges the ideals of larger house living and proves that with creative design, added volume and considered spatial layout, 115m² of space can feel generous and comfortable to live in.

Spatially, the living wing aligns with the north, capturing views to the Kaikoura mountains across the estuary and ocean. The bedroom wing is linked with an entry area clad internally in the same knotty grade cedar used on the exterior. This creates a feeling much like that of coming in for shelter from the weather in bush tramping huts and cabins.

Skylights flood spaces with light and allow connection to the exterior.