New zealand

Perched atop its ridgeline site, this family home blends contemporary design with the rustic cues of a traditional farmstead or country home. A welcoming, parquet-floored entrance leads to a central kitchen that forms the heart of the home, and the gabled living and dining spaces beyond. John Williams Photography John Williams Photography John Williams Photography John Williams Photography John Williams Photography John Williams Photography John Williams Photography The design draws on the owner’s Scottish heritage and travels through Europe, with spaces balancing subtle texture and refined detail. The home’s interior offers a softness and sense of intimacy that calmly sits in contrast to its... More

With a deftly angled roofline and an external material palette that combines the warmth of wood with linear metal cladding, this Wānaka house is designed as a low maintenance holiday home for a North Island based couple, with a view to becoming a future permanent residence. Biddi Rowley Biddi Rowley In creating the design, a number of site and setback restrictions were worked around. These were due to historic planning rules dating back to a time when the area was considered semi-rural, as well as an adjacent walking track with sightlines into the property. These were mitigated through a careful spatial arrangement, with the living room situated to the west and the roof tipped to capture eastern morning sun. This also allows for... More

Designed in collaboration with client and designers Jonathan Goss and Cathy Ellegard, this 230 sqm footprint utilises skillfully crafted and organised spaces to deliver a family home in a modest space without compromising on design. Adaptive spaces are able to be opened up or closed down to suit the family’s needs, allowing the couple and their two children to live and work alongside each other. Simon Larkin Simon Larkin Simon Larkin Simon Larkin The sloping site allows the main living spaces and bedrooms to be raised above the driveway for privacy and views. Sculpted concrete steps lead to the entry, with the dramatic backdrop of the Remarkables mountain range beyond. Simon Larkin Simon Larkin Simon... More

Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre has received a New Zealand Institute of Architects’ (Te Kāhui Whaihanga) national award (in the category of Public Architecture. Held annually, this awards program recognises the best architecture produced in New Zealand within a given year, with 2023 recognising 31 projects across 12 categories. Dennis Radermacher All projects celebrated in the national awards program have been recognised at local branch level before being shortlisted by the national awards jury, which appraises each project during a nationwide jury tour earlier in the year.  Designed by Woods Bagot in association with Warren and Mahoney, Te Pae received the award for ‘Public Architecture’. This category re... More

The Lake Hayes House, crafted by Ben Hudson Architects, is a modern two-level residence that gracefully integrates with the rocky terrain above Lake Hayes in Queenstown, New Zealand. John Williams Photography John Williams Photography John Williams Photography John Williams Photography John Williams Photography From the street, it presents a low, solid form inspired by traditional stone-walled gardens, using local stone to provide privacy and anchor the home to its site. Inside, the design shifts to a sense of transparency and light, with generous glazing that opens up to breathtaking views of the lake and mountains. Clerestory windows rise above the stone wall, drawing in natural light and framing the surrounding... More

The 1.8-hectare site is a natural formed terrace snuggled into the gentle north sloping base of Queenstown Hill in the South Island of New Zealand, overlooking the untamed Shotover River which disappears around the bend below. Simon Wilson The clients are staunch locals having spent most of their life in a modest cottage on the same road. They have owned the site for twenty years: planting and tending to the now mature grapes on the back terraces. They sought a permanent home here: a rural home for their mature years where they would be happily making wine and tinkering on old cars. Simon Wilson Simon Wilson The home consists of four robust rectilinear pavilions laid informally along the terrace. The materials include off t... More

The brief was to design a space which delivered an authentic experience, that showcased New Zealand.  The space needed to be functional and flexible to provide a home for New Zealand companies to connect with China and host clients and conduct day-to-day business.  The Center is divided into two wings, business (office, meeting rooms, hot desks) and event/greet (entrance, cafe, demonstration kitchen, event space). At the street entry, a mix of native NZ and Asian tree ferns is showcased on a living plant wall before heading up to the main floor. Coming out of the lift you are instantly welcomed into a New Zealand space where the naturals colours from timber and stone evoke New Zealand’s iconic landscapes. The custom chevron... More

This house is situated on a suburban section, overlooking a reserve with panoramic views of Lake Wanaka, Treble Cone and Black Peak. The design concept organises the home into three gabled pavilions all orientated towards the view, with the living wing in the centre and the master and guest bedroom wings on either side. The lower roof link ways between the pavilions allows for the creation of more intimate spaces and a series of private outdoor terraces and courtyards that can be used at different times of the day, or as sheltered retreat areas depending on the wind direction. The exterior form is reflected in the high volume interior spaces contrasting with the more intimate scale of the family retreat and study area. Materials are robust,... More

The initiative arises from the need to connect on the basis of a bridge or a series of them the great barrier island with the neighboring islands of the Hauraki Gulf.This proposal on the contrary seeks primarily to create the necessary means to contribute to the regeneration of an aquatic ecosystem belonging to the marine park of the Hauraki Gulf which has been significantly affected over time due to pollution and overfishing altering in this way the existing trophic and environmental system. That is why the interrelation between the gulf, its islands and basins is necessary to maintain the vital support of the environment which is a matter of national importance, besides that the marine park of the Hauraki Gulf is clearly different from ot... More

Designed for a sensitive ridge in rolling countryside, this house was depressed three metres into the existing ridgeline to minimise impact on the sea views from the neighbouring sites. Two separate buildings, linked by screens and lightweight roof, define the entry and pool area and help minimise the overall visual bulk. The main living wing has a central section of concrete walls and earth roof to replicate the original ridge when viewed from afar. From this ‘grounded’ element radiate the floating roof over the living areas, and a separate bedroom wing which cantilevers dramatically over the falling land. More

This house is located on a narrow urban site in the heart of Herne Bay. Tight site controls and a sloping site resulted in a long narrow building form that steps down the slope of the site. One of the main features of the house is the entry which is reached by a bridge that crosses a moat of planting. The entry is glazed with translucent glass to give privacy and a beautiful soft light to the interior spaces. The entry space is protected by a vertical cedar screen with intermittent horizontals painted with colours that have also been used on the interior and inspired by the clients’ fantastic collection of 1950 -60s furniture, art and ceramics. Once inside an open riser jarrah and steel stair with a hanging screen of stainless steel m... More

On an island in the Bay of Islands, four separate buildings discretely occupy an east-facing bay. The houses are light pavilions which promote the concept of 'roof' as the predominant element of shelter. The monopitch roofs float above and beyond the spaces, supported on exo-skeletal structures beautifully detailed in wood. Exterior walls are taut joinery frames, offering minimal interruption between inside and out. The boatshed is totally underground, to reduce visual built form in the bay, with the guesthouse above. The house has frequently been published internationally and has achieved what the Monument journal from Australia described as near 'mythic status'. More

A relatively mundane set of requirements has been transformed into an exciting and vibrant treehouse. A one room space serves as bedroom, workroom and rumpus area, with a separate small bedroom in the concrete masonry tower. The red box ‘floats’ above the boat space, and is nestled amongst the branches of the existing pohutukawa. Squeezed between the sea and a steep cliff, the extension reads as a floating red cube relating to the existing and grounded yellow bach. Clad in extruded aluminum weatherboards, the cube has a crispness of form and colour, which could overpower the bay and neighbours if not for the fact that it is recessed behind the large pohutukawa boughs, creating the feeling of a tree-house from inside. The red reflects th... More

Installed to the atrium of a busy inner-city campus Kaynemaile Armour connects two buildings and transforms a previously underused space into a beautiful vibrant meeting area. Spanning three floors and installed as single screens of mesh Kaynemaile Armour gives protection from wind, rain and sun.Spanning three floors gives protection from the wind, rain and sun, creating a beautiful, breathable space in a previously under-used area. More