Quantcast
Channel: HOME New Zealand
Viewing all 78 articles
Browse latest View live
↧

Home of the the 2014 - the winner!

April 1, 2014, 11:30 pm
$
0
0
Congratulations to Nat Cheshire of Cheshire Architects, who designed Eyrie, the twin cabins on an inlet of the Kaipara Harbour that have won our 19th Home of the Year award. Here's our new cover, featuring a photograph by Jeremy Toth.


Jeremy Toth also shot this fantastic short web film of the winning homes for us - watch it here, and enjoy! Thanks, as always, to our sponsors, Altherm Window Systems.


Home Of The Year 2014 from Jeremy Toth on Vimeo.
 
↧
Search

Amanda Levete on the Home of the Year

April 3, 2014, 2:49 pm
$
0
0
Given all the attention our Home of the Year is getting, we thought many of you might be interested in hearing some of the thinking behind the jury's decisions. 

The Home of the Year jury was made up of HOME editor Jeremy Hansen, Gary Lawson of four-time Home of the Year winners Stevens Lawson Architects, and Stirling Prize-winning London architect Amanda Levete. 

Here, Jeremy talks to Amanda about the judging process. This interview was conducted in mid-March, soon after judging of the Home of the Year was complete. 

Architect Amanda Levete. Photo: Peter Guenzel.
JEREMY HANSEN Let’s start by talking about the winning project: Eyrie, the black cabins by Nat Cheshire of Cheshire Architects.

AMANDA LEVETE That project was very finely tuned, such a poetic response to its site. It was a complete merging of idea and form. And there’s a narrative behind it that’s as poetic as its realisation. The idea that an architect would negotiate with planners to allow a smaller and much more modest footprint on the site is a fantastic inversion of expectations: it captures the mood of the world right now by demonstrating a greater respect for modesty and a reining in of consumerism. It shows how much you can do with so little and still hold such resonance.

The landscape it’s situated in was not the most beautiful or most dramatic of the sites we saw – far from it – but it had a sensibility of its own. You could sense this through the success of the dialogue between the client and the architect. It felt like there was a complete synergy between architect and client, and that is quite rare. It feels like the relationship with the client pushed the architect to go beyond his repertoire and explore ideas and an attitude that perhaps hadn’t been expressed in his work before. You need that input from a client, you need that challenge – and you need that energy and inspiration to make your work better. It’s those kind of relationships and moments that push an architect to develop and become great.

The cabins were beautifully detailed in a very simple way but every move, every line held the idea of the house. The tiny brass recessed kitchen area, which was like a little jewel in this simple black container, lifted it from being prosaic to something exceptional. The cabinets around the kitchen, which used a crude black-painted form-board, had chamfered edges that revealed the colour of the ply behind it, a tiny shadow line that, because the space was black, had a lustre almost like there was a light behind it. And what was so revealing about that space was that it was a black interior and black exterior but it didn’t feel oppressive. You were drawn into the space by the light and felt uplifted and serene and at one with the world and with nature.

The Home of the Year 2014, designed by Nat Cheshire of Cheshire Architects.
Photo: Darryl Ward.

JEREMY HANSEN What made the other homes worthy of inclusion? Let’s go from north to south, and start with the house by Herbst Architects. 

AMANDA LEVETE This house expressed very clearly how the forces of nature can drive design, with a clever layering of openings between indoor and outdoor spaces. There was a very strong relationship between a deep gabion wall and the passage between the bedrooms and the main spaces of the house, an outside but protected area that reinforced it as a beach house, so whatever the weather and time of year, you have to go outside to get inside, and that was very charming.

The Castle Rock House by Herbst Architects. Photo: Patrick Reynolds.
JEREMY HANSEN On Waiheke Island we visited a home by Wendy Shacklock. What did you enjoy about that?

AMANDA LEVETE This was an incredibly difficult site and a huge amount of thought had gone into exploring ways in which you could liberate it. That’s been achieved in a way that appears effortless, thanks to much of the site engineering being invisible – but it was far from straightforward. There was also a delicacy about the use of materials and the contrast between the solidity and brutality of the concrete wall and the openness of the elevations looking down at the water. The clients wanted the house to feel like a nest, and it did feel very protective and precarious at the same time. 

Te Kohanga, a home on Waiheke Island designed by Wendy Shacklock in association with Paul Clarke. Photo: Samuel Hartnett.
JEREMY HANSEN How about the small house by Andrew Simpson?  

AMANDA LEVETE This was a studio house, just 50 square metres in which every little square foot was accounted for and exploited. There was a wonderful, huge opening up of a view on a very difficult site. What I loved was the ambition and endeavour that was invested into such a complicated site. That endeavour was palpable and real – the architect built much of the interior – and it shows again how much you can achieve with a modest budget, which is always refreshing. 

The Nine Tsubo House by Andrew Simpson of Wiredog Architecture.
Photo: Paul McCredie.
JEREMY HANSEN On Banks Peninsula, we visited the Scrubby Bay Farmhouse by Pattersons.

AMANDA LEVETE I found this house incredibly beautiful. Proportionally there was a real kind of magic about the delicacy of these barn-like forms that just slipped one in front of the other in a strong sectional relationship sited in a completely spectacular bay. The plan of the house was understated and restrained, and that restraint was very powerful when matched by such a spectacular backdrop. The house also made beautiful use of wood, with a subtle scent of the macrocarpa cladding inside that was just magic for me.

The Scrubby Bay Farmhouse by Pattersons. Photo: Simon Devitt
JEREMY HANSEN We saw homes on beautiful sites, but the suburban house by LO'CA in Wanaka was different.  

AMANDA LEVETE This is a house for a retired couple with a brief that was far from glamorous, but the architects managed to lift it by creating a kind of respect for the span of a couple’s life, and I was very touched by that. It wasn’t just the clever planning but the way in which the clients’ lives – their past as well as their future and the present – were mapped into the planning; I’ve never seen that done before. It made me think how important houses are as containers for your life and your history. Some of the houses we saw had an absence of the soul of the owners, and a house needs soul. This one had it.

The Lovell House by Tim Lovell and Ana O'Connell of Lovell O'Connell Architects.
Photo: Patrick Reynolds.


JEREMY HANSEN This is your first visit to New Zealand. What are your impressions of the country's architecture after a week here?

AMANDA LEVETE It’s clear that the bach is a powerful genre, and we’ve seen it interpreted differently in extraordinary settings that are very particular to New Zealand. There is an incredible and inventive use of woods, which has been inspiring to me, and makes me want to explore that in our own work. But I worry that there’s a kind of complacency in New Zealand’s architecture. I have seen some of the most spectacular sites in the world on this trip and some of the most extraordinary pieces of landscape – I don’t think I’ll ever see anything more beautiful. With that goes a huge responsibility to respond with an ambition that matches that drama and the beauty of the location. That responsibility is sometimes taken too much for granted. I think architects need to remind themselves what a privilege it is to design in a piece of nature that is unsurpassable.

Clients, too, need to have that same sense of ambition and responsibility in selecting their architect and in their own briefs. It’s not just about designing a house. You have to respond to the magnitude and power of nature at its most beautiful. Houses are relatively modest in scale but historically they have defined an architectural era, and not enough architects here feel that sense of potential. Architecture here is quite self-referential and it shouldn’t be, because what we’ve seen in this last week is a fantastic abundance of talent and inventiveness and clever thinking. Architects in New Zealand should be more ambitious in terms of their place internationally – you have a great tradition of house design that could be defining and having an influence on the rest of the world.

JEREMY HANSEN Lastly, do you have any thoughts about awards like this in general?

AMANDA LEVETE The Home of the Year award is important because it’s not just about applauding excellence; it’s about marking turning points in architects’ careers. The purpose of awards is to recognise talent and to lift the standards and advance the debate. The cross-section of projects we’ve selected for this, the Home of the Year issue, is testament to all of that.  

Amanda Levete travelled to New Zealand thanks to the support of Altherm Window Systems, our Home of the Year sponsor.
↧
↧

Design Awards 2014 Call for Entries

April 9, 2014, 9:34 pm
$
0
0
Designers! Each year our Design Awards programme features the best New Zealand furniture and homeware - and now's your chance to enter to ensure your design reaches the country's most engaged readers.

All you need to do to enter is send up to five images (from a variety of angles) of the furniture or object(s) you've designed, along with a 250-word statement about the project's aims and its designers. You can email your entries to designawards@bauermedia.co.nz or courier them to HOME magazine, Bauer Media, Shed 12, CityWorks Depot, 77 Cook Street, Auckland 1010.

Entries at due by 5pm, Tuesday April 15.

We'll choose a shortlist of finalist from the entries and have them photographed for inclusion in our June/July issue, on newsstands June 2. 

We look forward to showcasing more of the work of New Zealand's best designers.


↧

Modern furniture fans have a treat in store

April 30, 2014, 3:29 pm
$
0
0
Modern furniture fans have some treats coming up, with big auctions planned in May at Auckland auction houses Webb's and Art + Object. 

Webb's are collaborating for the fifth time with modern furniture specialists Mr. Bigglesworthy, who not only source the best mid-century New Zealand furniture, but import great discoveries from the UK and US as well.

The auction is being held at Webb's on May 15 at 6.30pm, with a preview event on May 8 at 6.30pm. 

Here are some of the highlights from the upcoming auction:

The 'Goldola' sofa (above) was designed by Adrian Pearsall for Craft Associates. 

The 'B40' teak sideboard (above) is by Dieter Waeckerlin for Behr Mobel.

And this 'Mr' chair and ottoman (above) is by George Mulhauser for Plycraft. You can see the full catalogue of treasures here.

↧

Top picks for the Resene Architecture and Design Film Festival

May 8, 2014, 3:37 am
$
0
0
As many of you hopefully already know, the Resene Architecture and Design Film Festival is starting today at Rialto Cinemas Newmarket in Auckland (until May 21), before opening at The Embassy in Wellington (May 29 to June 11) and at Rialto Cinemas Dunedin (June 12-22).

You can download a PDF of the programme here. And you can book tickets here. (Wellingtonians: please note you should use the link to the Event Cinemas website).

Over the next few days we'll tell you our picks from the festival lineup - all the films are tantalising, but we've got to be in the office some of the time, so we'll tell you which movies are at the top of our lists. 

Here are some of HOME editor Jeremy Hansen's picks:

"I'm crazy about the work of Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of the Japanese firm SANAA, especially after going to see their Museum of 21st Century Art in  Kanazawa a few years ago (do you like how I dropped that in?). So I'm really excited about seeing The Interior Passage, a documentary about the making of their Rolex Learning Center in Lausanne, Switzerland (left), an incredible-looking building that creates its own kind of terrain. It also sounds like the documentary is an interesting look at the pressures of creating such an avant-garde building, and how architectural vision gets tested by the realities of budget pressures and engineering challenges."



"I saw If You Build It (that's the trailer above) at the festival opening night, and although it wouldn't quite have made my original list, it was fantastic and really uplifting and I think everyone should see it. In it, two designers take over the workshop programme at a high school in a downtrodden country in North Carolina, and lead their students on a fantastic journey that has a heart-warming and lasting effect on the entire town. Lots of people in the audience were crying, as it's impossible not to be moved by this film. 



"I can never see too much of the work of the great modernist architect Richard Neutra, and this documentary, The Oyler House: Richard Neutra's Desert Retreat, (trailer above) which focuses one on of his lesser-known homes, looks irresistible. It's just 48 minutes long, so it screens with Desert Utopia: Midcentury Architecture in Palm Springs - a double-bill that's sure to satiate even the most ravenous modernists.

"I'm also excited about seeing the documentary about the great Japanese architect Tadao Ando: From Emptiness to Infinity because Ando's works are so fantastic, and any insight into how he creates them has got to be a good thing.




"And while it isn't about architecture, the idea of a fashion documentary featuring Givenchy, Dior, Ungaro, Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Cardin along with Andy Warhol, Christina Onassis, Liza Minnelli, Josephine Baker and Rudolf Nureyev all getting together for an epic fashion show at Versailles just sounds too amazing to be true. The film's called Versailles '73: American Runway Revolution and pits the French against American designers including Halston, Oscar de la Renta, Anne Klein and Bill Blass. It looks like the kind of thing that anyone interested in fashion should see." 
↧
↧

More great picks from the Resene Architecture and Design Film Festival

May 9, 2014, 4:16 am
$
0
0
More on the Resene Architecture and Design Film Festival. This time, HOME senior designer and stylist Kendyl Middelbeek reveals her picks from the festival programme.

 

"I'm constantly caught between being a maximalist and hating clutter, so watching people fold their lives into the petite homes in TINY: A Story About Living Small (trailer above) promises to be fascinating. It seems particularly poignant at the moment, give our recent HOME of the Year winner is so diminutive!


"My favourite episodes of Mad Men are when Don Draper spends a debauched weekend in Palm Springs - I re-watched the episode twice just to screenshot all the home and interiors. It’s the closest I’ve gotten to visiting the place, so the film Desert Utopia: Midcentury Architecture in Palm Springs (trailer above) is going to nicely stoke my obsesson. 


"The Oil Rocks – City Above the Sea is kind of a wild card for me, but I’m fascinated by the Soviet era, and by anything built on the constantly moving surface of the ocean (like the small cities constructed inside jet fighter carriers), so I've put this film (trailer above) on my list too."


↧

Our new issue has winter goodness aplenty

June 2, 2014, 9:55 pm
$
0
0
Our winter issue is on newsstands RIGHT NOW and we're quite excited about all that it contains. First, here's the cover: a photograph by Simon Devitt of an amazing small home by Pattersons on the northern end of Banks Peninsula. Beautiful!

Here's a photograph by Simon Devitt of the home itself (below) in its spectacular setting:

Also in this issue, we visit a couple of remarkable New Zealand expats. Music manager Debbi Gibbs lives in Manhattan, but spends weekends on the New Jersey lakeside in this prefabricated home by Resolution: 4 Architecture (the home was mostly built in a factory and trucked to the site in four pieces). The photograph below, featuring Debbi and her son Blake, is by Emily Andrews.


Emily Andrews also visited London for this issue, where she photographed the flat of Christchurch-born interior designer Christopher Hall (below) who divides his time between the English capital and his homes in Istanbul (where he also designs furniture, including all the pieces in this photo) and Riyadh, where has has some major interior design commissions under way. He's a fascinating and very successful designer, and we're delighted to feature him in this issue.


Also in this issue! A delightful home (below) by Michael O'Sullivan (who also designed our 2011 Home of the Year on Kare Kare Beach) on Waiheke Island - it's warm, woody and economical, and well worth a closer look. The photo is by Simon Devitt.

And in Christchurch, we visit a vintage delight, a wonderful 1968 home (below) by Warren & Mahoney that is now owned (and adored) by Matthew Arnold of the design firm Sons & Co and his wife Kate. It was photographed by Samuel Hartnett. 

And let's not forget that this is our annual Design Awards issue, featuring the work of New Zealand's best furniture designers (brought to you this year by our new awards partner, Fisher & Paykel). Here's a group shot of them by Toaki Okano (below), and you can check out their fantastic work in the mag.




















Our Design Awards finalists are (from left): Nat Cheshire of Cheshire Architects, Nathan Goldsworthy, Tim Webber, Simon James, Nigel Groom and Emma Fox-Derwin of Wellington's Well-Groomed Fox, and Timothy John. Look out for more of their designs in the magazine and in a subsequent post. In the meantime, enjoy our new issue!
↧

New Zealand at the Venice Architecture Biennale

June 3, 2014, 9:46 pm
$
0
0
The Venice Architecture Biennale begins later this week, and includes New Zealand's first-ever exhibition at this prestigious event (an initiative led by the New Zealand Institute of Architects). In our February issue, we spoke to David Mitchell of Mitchell and Stout Architects, the creative director of the New Zealand exhibition, about what they're planning for the show.

David Mitchell (centre) with the other creators of New Zealand's first-ever exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale. From left, back row: Mike Austin, Claire Natusch, Sara Lee Chia-lin, Julian Mitchell, Frances Cooper, Rick Pearson and Ginny Pedlow. Front row, from left: Julie Stout, David Mitchell and Rau Hoskins. Photograph by Jane Ussher.




HOMEWhat is your team planning for your exhibition at the architecture biennale?
DAVID MITCHELL, CREATIVE DIRECTOR [Dutch architect] Rem Koolhaas is the overall creative director this year, and he’s chosen the theme ‘Fundamentals’, which addresses the evolution of national architectures in the last century. He’s saying that modernity is taking over everything – that there’s an increasing homogeneity in architecture around the world. He’s probably right in general, but we think there’s a Pacific gene in New Zealand architecture that has got more distinctive over the last 100 years. It shows in light post-and-beam and panel structures, often with big roofs. We cross over between the Pacific and the European.

So will you convey these ideas in a structure, or an exhibition format?
We’ll have our own room in a palazzo to work within. One of our key pieces is going to be a brand new pataka which is being carved at this moment. It stands on a pole and is the first thing visitors to the exhibition will meet – a Pacific structure if ever there was. Then we’ll have a whare-like, or house-like tent structure within the space, the walls of which will show images of New Zealand buildings that back up our thesis about how deeply lightweight structures inform New Zealand architecture. These images could include wooden houses of the 1950s, the Waitomo Caves Visitor Centre, holiday homes by Herbst Architects, Wellington’s Futuna Chapel, Christchurch’s Cardboard Cathedral – a Pacific structure by an architect of sufficient prominence to get noticed around the world – and the Auckland Art Gallery, which won World Building of the Year. It couldn’t be a better moment to showcase New Zealand architecture. 

Your exhibition will be called ‘Last, Loneliest, Loveliest’. Where does the name come from?
It’s a quote from Kipling, written about Auckland. We like it because it implies a lot about what makes New Zealand’s situation unique. 

The Venice Architecture Biennale runs June 7 to November 23http://venice.nzia.co.nz/ You can read more about the New Zealand exhibition and see video of David Mitchell presenting the exhibition concept at this link.
↧
Search

Presenting NZ's best new furniture in our annual Design Awards (with our new partners Fisher & Paykel).

June 3, 2014, 11:44 pm
$
0
0
Every year we're delighted to showcase New Zealand's best new furniture and lighting in our annual Design Awards - and this year, we're delighted to present the finalists and winner to you in conjunction with our new Design Awards partners, Fisher & Paykel. 

First, meet the designers in our competition (who you can also see in this issue of the magazine). They are (from left) Nat Cheshire of Cheshire Architects; Nathan Goldsworthy of Goldsworthy; Tim Webber of Tim Webber Design; Simon James of Resident; Nigel Groom and Emma Fox-Derwin of Well-Groomed Fox; and Timothy John of Timothy John Design. They were photographed by Toaki Okano at Auckland's White Studios on May 7.




















And now to the objects in our competition. The winner of the 2014 Design Awards is Cheshire Architects for the 'Parison' pendant for Resident (below), an elegant mix of the hand-made and the digital (it's made when a bubble of layered molten glass is mouth-blown into a computer-cut mould of water-soaked cherrywood). The pendant has already debuted at the Milan furniture fair as part of the Resident collection, and we're delighted to feature it here. 


And here are our other finalists, in no particular order: first, the 'Pi' table (below) by Paris-based designer Roderick Fry, an ingeniously simple trestle leg system that flat-packs for shipping but holds a range of table tops with perfect stability. 


Nathan Goldsworthy's beautiful 'Ballet' chairs and 'Ballerina' tables (below) were produced as part of a collaboration with Backhouse Interiors and Designworks. The chairs and table are crafted from laminated ash, and the chairs are upholstered in wool. 


Emma Fox-Derwin and Nigel Groom of Wellington's Well-Groomed Fox created the handsome 'Notch' pendant lights (below), which have a raw, matte depth thanks to their colour being part of the ceramic rather than a glaze applied later.


Designer Timothy John created the 'Handmade' range (below) - which includes the 'Bowler' light, 'Splay' table and 'Nordic' chair - for Paper Plane, the design store he co-owns in Mount Maunganui. All the designs are hand-crafted by Nigel Cotterill. The chair and light are made from solid American ash, and the table is available in ash or laminate versions.


Auckland-based Tim Webber created the 'Duffle' ottoman, a sturdy piece of furniture that references the classic bag. It's upholstered in wool with a simple rope drawstring. 


Last but certainly not least is Simon James''Pick Up Sticks' chair for Resident, with a solid oak frame and detachable, wool-upholstered component, allowing retailers to stock the frames and the wool seats to be made to order. 


A huge thank you from us to all the designers who entered, and congratulations to the team at Cheshire Architects and the other finalists. We're also delighted at the support Fisher & Paykel are giving to New Zealand design by supporting our awards programme. 

Our shoot was photographed by Toaki Okano, and styled by Kendyl Middelbeek and Samantha Totty. You can read more details about the entrants in our special winter issue of the magazine.
 

↧
↧

Tickets are on sale now for our inaugural Kitchen Design Day with Blum

June 5, 2014, 8:39 pm
$
0
0
We're delighted to invite you to our inaugural Kitchen Design Day, which we're holding in conjunction with our friends at Blum, the specialists in top-quality kitchen hardware.

Modelled on our successful Style Safaris, our Kitchen Design Day is an all-day event that incorporates showroom visits, the latest news in kitchen appliances, new trends from Europe, and information-rich design briefings from expert kitchen designers (including international kitchen design award-winner Morgan Cronin, one of whose designs is shown in the image below).




















Tickets for the day are $75 (the price includes transport between destinations and food and drinks), and numbers are limited to 50. The event is being held in Auckland and is hosted by HOME editor Jeremy Hansen. It'll be a perfect day full of inspiration for anyone planning a new kitchen, so book your tickets now at the link here.
↧

Nat Cheshire talks about the design of the beautiful 'Parison' pendant

June 11, 2014, 9:24 pm
$
0
0
We've just made this short web film featuring Nat Cheshire and Emily Priest of Cheshire Architects talking about the design of the gorgeous 'Parison' pendant for Resident, the winner of our furniture and lighting Design Awards 2014. In it, they talk about the design process, the joys of being a designer in New Zealand, and Cheshire Architects' ambitions to "redesign entire cities" and "build whole worlds".  

A big thank you to our Design Awards sponsors, Fisher & Paykel, for their support of great New Zealand design. And congratulations again to Nat and the Cheshire Architects team!

↧

Introducing our new issue and brand-new website.

August 3, 2014, 2:42 pm
$
0
0
We like you blogspot, we really do ... but it's time to introduce you to our beautiful new website at www.homemagazine.co.nz. Check it out now for behind-the-scenes shots of the creation of our latest Global Villages issue (on newsstands now!) with guest editor Karen Walker. We'll be updating the new site daily from now on, but this will be our last post on this site. See you on the other side!


↧

Our new book: great New Zealand modernist homes

October 14, 2013, 8:29 pm
$
0
0
We're so pleased with our new book, Modern: New Zealand Homes from 1938 to 1977, which we've created in conjunction with the kind folks at Random House publishers. It'll be in bookstores from November 1, but we wanted to tell you a bit about it here before it comes out. 

The book's jacket features a photograph by Patrick Reynolds of a home designed by Reginald Uren in Raumati in the mid-1960s. When you get your copy, you'll see the jacket (like the rest of the book, designed by our friends at Inhouse) folds out to reveal a bigger view of the house.



Under the jacket lies this foxy linen cover with embossed lettering. Yum. 



The book, which has 350 pages between its gorgeous covers, is a compliation of features of our favourite mid-century homes from the magazine in the last decade or so, with the addition of some that have been newly photographed for the book. The shot below is of a spread from the book featuring the Donner House, designed by Auckland's City Architect, Tibor Donner. It was photographed by Mark Smith and styled by Katie Lockhart.

There are 24 homes in the book, modernist gems from Auckland, Hamilton, Thames, Whanganui, Hawke's Bay, Raumati, Wellington, Christchurch, Hokitika, Dunedin and Alexandra. All of them show mid-century New Zealand as a place of great sophistication and inventiveness. Most of the homes are still in marvellously good condition, as liveable today as they were when they were first completed - including Wellington's Halberstam House (below), designed by Henry Kulka and still occupied by Lucie Halberstam, the daughter of the original owners. This photo is by Paul McCredie. 



The book also features homes designed by, among others, Ernst Plischke, Bill Alington, Robin Simpson, Vladimir Cacala, John Scott, Ivan Juriss, Ted McCoy, Jon Craig, and Sir Miles Warren, whose magnificent Selby (below, photographed by Paul McCredie) near Havelock North features along with a home Sir Miles designed in Dunedin that has been shot especially for the book.



We're including the shot below just to make it clear that this isn't just a picture book. In fact, it includes the work of some of the country's best architectural writers from HOME's family of contributors, including Douglas Lloyd Jenkins, Julia Gatley, Linda Tyler, Adrienne Rewi, Lara Strongman, Andrew Barrie, Bill McKay, Michael Findlay, Alistair Luke and Claire McCall. 



There are also plans of almost every house, and helpful biographies of the architects involved. 



One of the many nice things about the book is the way it traces modernism's development in New Zealand from textbook flat-roofed homes to later experiments in combining European modernism with this country's cottage vernacular, where homes such as Jon Craig's near Wellington (below, photographed by Paul McCredie) combined pitched roofs with open-plan living rooms. 


We're pleased to be able to offer the book for the special price of $70 (RRP is $75) including postage, from www.magshop.co.nz/modern. You can pre-order your copy there now. We really hope you enjoy it. 


↧
↧

Auckland Architecture Awards 2013

October 16, 2013, 10:52 pm
$
0
0
The winners of the NZ Institute of Architects' Auckland Architecture Awards were announced last night. There's a whole host of great buildings here. We'll start with the houses. 

The Newcombe House in Parnell, Auckland (below) was designed by Peter Bartlett and won an Enduring Architecture award. You can see this terrific house published in full in our new book, Modern: New Zealand Homes from 1938 to 1977, which is in bookstores on November 1. The photograph is by Samuel Hartnett. 


The other winner in the Enduring Architecture category was the Yock House (below), designed by architect Lillian Chrystall. 


In the Housing category, RTA Studio won an award for the Stable Lane apartments (below), which featured in our June/July issue. The photograph is by Patrick Reynolds. 


New York-based, New Zealand-born architect David Howell won a Housing Award for this home on Auckland's Upper Queen Street (below), photographed by Patrick Reynolds.


Glamuzina Paterson Architects picked up a Housing award for this holiday home on Waiheke Island (below), photographed by Samuel Hartnett. 


Strachan Group Architects designed the Nikau House in Parnell, which also won an award in the Housing category (below). It also won a Sustainable Architecture award. Photograph by Jackie Meiring. 


You might remember this from our February/March issue last year: the Ngunguru House (below) by Tennent + Brown Architects, another winner in the Housing and Sustainability categories. Photograph by Paul McCredie. 


Strachan Group Architects also picked up Housing and Sustainability awards for their work for VisionWest Community Housing, two low-budget homes in West Auckland (below). Photograph by Jackie Meiring. 


The Takapuna House by Athfield Architects (below) is on the cover of our current issue, and also won a Housing award. Photograph by Simon Devitt. 


On Waiheke Island, the Macalister House (below) by architect Wendy Shacklock picked up a Housing award. Photograph by Patrick Reynolds. Watch out for this in one of our upcoming issues. 


This home (below) by Dorrington Architects also won a Housing award. Photograph by Emma-Jane Hetherington. 


Another Housing award winner to watch out for in an upcoming issue: the Tarrant/Millar house in Point Chevalier (below), designed by architect Guy Tarrant (who also happens to have a home in our current issue). Photograph by Patrick Reynolds. 

The Cliff Top House (below) by Xsite Architects featured in our August/September issue last year, and also won a Housing Award. Photograph by Simon Devitt. 


Patterson Associates won a Housing award for this home (below) in St Mary's Bay, which you can also look forward to seeing more of in one of our upcoming issues. Photograph by Simon Devitt. 


And the final award in the Housing category went to the Dune House (below) by Fearon Hay Architects, photographed by Patrick Reynolds. 


Onwards! Now to the Interior Architecture category, in which there were five winners. The first, the St Heliers Bay Bistro (below), by McKinney Windeatt Architects. Photograph by David Straight. 


Jasmax won an Interior Architecture award for their work on AUT's Sir Paul Reeves Building (below), which also won an award in the Education category. Photograph by Simon Devitt. 


Cheshire Architects garnered an Interior Architecture award for their work on Milse (below) in Auckland's Britomart precinct. Photograph by Jeremy Toth. 


The York Street Mechanics cafe (below) in Parnell, with an interior by Bureaux Architects, was another winner in the Interior Architecture category. Photograph by Samuel Hartnett. 


And the final Interior Architecture award went to CPRW Fisher for the Lincoln Road fitout (below). Photograph by Simon Devitt. 


Onto the Heritage category, where there were two winners. The Fox Street Office (below) was designed by Fearon Hay Architects and photographed by Jackie Meiring. 


The other winner in the Heritage category was Salmond Reed Architects for the Allendale House and Annex on Ponsonby Road (below). Photograph by Simon Devitt. 


Now Commercial Architecture, in which there were four winners. McKinney Windeatt Architects won an award in this category for their design of the Special Building, just behind Victoria Park Market (below). Photograph by Simon Devitt. 


Also in the Commercial Architecture category, Warren & Mahoney won an award for their work on the renovation of the ANZ Centre in Albert Street (below). Photograph by Simon Devitt. 


RTA Studio won a Commercial Architecture award for the McKelvie Street shopping Precinct (below), which you might remember from our February/March issue. Photograph by Patrick Reynolds.

And the final Commercial Architecture award went to Jasmax for the Quad 5 office building at Auckland Airport (below), which also won a Sustainable Architecture Award. Photograph by Simon Devitt. 


To the Education category, in which RTA Studio won an award for the St Kentigern College MacFarlan Centre (below). Photograph by Patrick Reynolds. 


Warren & Mahoney won an Education award for the Massey University Albany Student Amenities Centre (below). Photograph by Simon Devitt. 


Kay and Keys Architects won an Education category award for the Unitec Marae Stage 2 Wharekai (Manaaki) (below), photographed by Greg Kempthorne. 


Warren & Mahoney won another award in the Education category for the University of Auckland University Hall. Photograph by Simon Devitt. 


In the Public Architecture category, Archoffice won an award for the refurbishment of the ASB Theatre at the Aotea Centre (below). Photograph by Silvana Dunatov.


Warren & Mahoney won a Public Architecture Award for the Point Resolution Footbridge (below), just beside Auckland's Parnell Baths. Photograph by Patrick Reynolds. 


Jasmax won a Public Architecture award for the Muriwai Surf Lifesaving Club (below). Photograph by Kenneth Li. 

  

Also in Public Architecture, Glamuzina Paterson Architects and Hamish Monk Architect won an award for the Giraffe House (below) at the Auckland Zoo. Photograph by Mark Smith. 


In the Small Project Architecture category, Archoffice won an award for this Auckland Council Amenities building (below). Photograph by Simon Devitt. 


Also winning a Small Project Award is the Arruba Bach by Bossley Architects (below), which you should look out for in an upcoming issue of HOME. Photograph by Simon Devitt. 


The House of Steel and Light (below) by Robin O'Donnell Architects also won a Small Project award. Photograph by Fraser Newman.

BVN Donovan Hill and Jasmax won an award in the Sustainable Architecture category for ASB North Wharf (below). Photograph by Simon Devitt. 

Finally, the Planning and Urban Design category, in which Sills Van Bohemen won an award for Takapuna's Hurstmere Green (below). Photograph by Simon Devitt.  


Construkt Architects and Isthmus Group won a Planning and Urban Design Award for the Sunderland Precinct comprehensive development plan in Auckland's Hobsonville Point (it's not developed yet, so there's no photo). 

And the final winner in this epic post is Matter and Auckland Transport, who designed this temporary installation on a disused part of Spaghetti Junction motorway to raise awareness of cycling. It won a Planning and Urban Design award. Photograph by Alex Wallace and Laura Forest. 


↧

Milan Mrkusich, modernist master

November 13, 2013, 5:44 pm
$
0
0
This week we had the pleasure of attending the opening of an exhibition accompanying an auction of works (by online art dealers Ocula Black) from the collection of the great New Zealand modernist artist, Milan Mrkusich. 

This isn't an auction of works from the secondary market, but paintings from Milan Mrkusich's own collection that have been selected for auction by his son, Lewis Mrkusich. Lewis has chosen five pairs of works, each pair combining a painting from early in his father's career with a more recent work. 

The image below shows, at left on the end wall, 'Chromatic Primary Suite', completed in 1992, paired with (at right on end wall) 'Triptych: Homage to Rodchenko), painted in 1966. The pairings of all the works show the remarkable consistency of Mrkusich's exploration of geometry and colour throughout his career.


This image (below) shows 'Meta Grey Light Series No. 1' (1970) at left, and 'Meta Grey, Yellow' (1998) at right. 


Here (below), Milan Mrkusich's 'Progression II' (1985-92) is shown at left alongside 'Untitled I' (2002).



At the opening, a couple of people wondered if Milan Mrkusich was still alive, as they hadn't seen any new works from him in some time. We can happily report that he is in his 80s and, although he now needs to use a walker to help him move around, he is very much alive, although he stopped painting some years ago. He didn't attend the opening but visited the gallery earlier in the day to see the works. Lewis said his father was delighted to see the paintings, and intrigued by the way they were grouped. 

In the image below, Milan Mrkusich's 'Dark Painting II' (1971) hangs at left beside 'Achromatic with Cobalt Blue' (1991).


Not everyone knows that Mrkusich, who was born in Dargaville in 1925, began his career as a designer at the Auckland firm of Brenner Associates. He worked on a number of architectural projects and also designed the Auckland home that he still lives in, a modernist marvel that is still in terrific condition (but he is reticent about having it photographed).

Wellingtonians will also know his work from the mural of colour blocks on the Cable Street facade of Te Papa, commissioned as the museum was undergoing construction. And, of course, his paintings are in major public and private collections all over the country.

Ocula Black's online auction of these wonderful works continues until next Tuesday, November 26. Even if you aren't going to bid on them, we recommend you take the opportunity to visit Ocula Black's Auckland gallery space (at 25 Sale Street) to see the paintings - or see more of them at the Ocula Black link at the top of this page.
↧
Search

More Mrkusich: this time, the master's marvellous house

November 14, 2013, 8:26 pm
$
0
0
Yesterday we blogged about Milan Mrkusich's great paintings (10 works from his collection are currently being auctioned by Ocula Black) but we didn't want to leave out the fact that the artist was also a great designer, as these photos of his own Auckland home show. 

Mrkusich started his career as a graphic designer, and later worked on architectural projects in his role at Auckland's Brenner Associates. He designed his own home (where he still lives today) in the early 1950s. 

Our thanks to Auckland War Memorial Museum - Tamaki Paenga Hira for allowing us to reproduce these images of the home from their archives. The shots were taken by a photographer from Sparrow Industrial Pictures soon after the home was completed. 

This shot (below) shows the home's north-facing elevation and the way its striking wedge shape follows the contour of the site. 


Here's the southern elevation, with a timber wall sheltering the home from cooler southerly winds, while a clerestory window lets in light.


The home's interior (below) is lovely, with an open-plan, split level living space holding the kitchen, dining, living and studio areas. Some time after this photo was taken, Mrkusich added a larger studio to the southern wing of the home, enabling his wife Florence to use this space on the lowest level of the living area.

 
Another view of the living room (below) shows the southern clerestory window and the chairs from Brenner Associates. A work by Mrkusich is on the pillar in the foreground. Please excuse the blemishes on the photo, which are a result of damage to the transparencies before they entered the care of Auckland Museum.

 
 This view (below) looks from the living room back to the dining area, taking in the beautiful fireplace with its stone surround and the marvellously cantilevered steps.


And finally, this view (below) of the compact dining area also shows the kitchen at right and the home's main entrance. 

 
↧

Our new cover: The Summer Issue

November 27, 2013, 7:07 pm
$
0
0
Our latest cover (which will reach subscribers tomorrow, and be on newsstands from Monday December 2) features a photograph by Emily Andrews of the home and studio of artist Jennifer Bartlett (whose work hangs at right), designed by David Berridge. 

Given all the Christmas madness that's about to engulf us, we wanted to create a cover that embodied our simple aims in the upcoming holidays: to rest, relax and reconnect. We hope you get this feeling of calm when you look at this lovely shot. 

Inside, there's a range of inspiring summer escapes, from a beautiful pool pavilion on the Kaipara Harbour by Herbst Architects to a humble Wanaka holiday home by Anna-Marie Chin that was inspired by the region's vernacular sheds. 

You should also look out for the Noble family's fabulous off-grid Northland encampment - made up of a converted shipping container and a clutch of Indian tents - and a magnificent Waiheke Island holiday home by Andre Hodgskin.

We hope you enjoy the issue, and that the promise of post-Christmas calm carries you through the craziness of the festive season. 
↧
↧

Design Case Studies with Altherm Window Systems: Drift Bay house by Kerr Ritchie Architects

January 30, 2014, 12:00 pm
$
0
0
Happy New Year everyone, and welcome to the first in our new series of Design Case Studies, which will run weekly here on our blog. 

The Design Case Studies are created to give you insight into the building process of some of the amazing homes in the magazine, so the owners can share some of the lessons they learned with you. The series is brought to you in association with Atherm Window Systems. 

The first Design Case Study visits Pete Ritchie and Bronwen Kerr of Queenstown's Kerr Ritchie Architects and talks to them about how they allowed themselves maximum flexibility and minimum fuss with the construction of their home at Drift Bay on Lake Wakatipu. The photographs are by Paul McCredie.

Pete Ritchie and Bronwen Kerr's home in Drift Bay, near Queenstown.
Architects often say that when they get to design their own homes they have a duty to experiment, and Pete Ritchie and Bronwen Kerr’s home on the shores of Lake Wakatipu is no exception. When architects are their own clients, they also tend to leave their documentation until the last minute. For both of these reasons, Pete and Bronwen decided to hire a builder on a labour and materials arrangement, instead of a fixed-price contract (in which the builder agrees to complete the work on a house for a previously agreed price). “It seemed like a fair way to build and there was flexibility along the way,” Pete says. “Plans don’t have to be quite as tied down, so there’s more scope to move throughout the project. There was a certain amount of experimentation going on, and the builder enjoyed that – although it's not always what we would recommend to our clients, as many want more price certainty.”

Pete Ritchie and Bronwen Kerr of Kerr Ritchie Architects.
This arrangement allowed for small but important changes along the way, changes that would have involved potentially time-consuming renegotiation of a fixed-price building contract. For example, what was intended to be a large storage cupboard in an area at the centre of the house was changed into a room containing a pellet boiler to heat water for the underfloor heating system after Pete and Bronwen investigated heating options and decided a boiler was essential. In another case, they decided not to clad an external wall in cedar, but were able to arrange with the builder to use the leftover timber indoors instead. This flexibility minimised the potential stress of making big decisions a long way in advance. Instead, Pete and Bronwen had the luxury of refining details as the building evolved.

A view of the home with The Remarkables rising behind.
The couple started out with the intention of designing a “lean” house containing enough room for them and their three children, as well as a studio to allow them to run their architecture practise from home. Initially, they hoped to complete the house for somewhere around $2000 a square metre, a target they’d achieved on a home they had previously designed for themselves in Wellington.

The home's studio (where Pete and Bronwen work) and guest bedroom is in the volume at left, with the living areas and three additional bedrooms at right. The eastern courtyard, shown here, connects with the kitchen and catches the morning sun.
By the time building started on their Queenstown house in 2006, prices for building and materials had increased, meaning the cost of the new house came in closer to $2500 a square metre. Fortunately, the increase in the value of their lakeside land in the years between their purchase of it and the erection of their home gave them the ability to borrow more money to cover the extra cost.

The home's main living area looks north across Lake Wakatipu towards Queenstown.
Some decisions they made along the way helped keep costs down, but these choices were always made with the overall aesthetic of the building in mind. Inside, they made the economical choice of strandboard panels for doors, joinery and some walls, instead of the more expensive hoop pine they were initially considering. Now that the strandboard is installed, it feels perfectly in keeping with the home’s casual aesthetic.


The kitchen looks out to the courtyard. The staircase at left is
clad in Strandboard panels, which helped keep costs down
and fit the home's casual aesthetic.
The home's living area features cedar detailing that is also used on the exterior.
The other decision they made in order to save money was for Pete to become the builder’s labourer. The couple had just relocated from Wellington to Queenstown and didn’t have a great deal of local work on at that time, so the arrangement made financial sense and also gave Pete valuable insight into the building process (as well as making it clear that working outside in the middle of a Queenstown winter can sometimes be a bit grim).
 
One of the home's bathrooms features a sauna and a sliding door that opens to the garden. The walls feature 'Vixel' glass mosaic tiles.
Now, with their own home and a number of other commissions completed, the couple say they have a good handle on budgetary matters, but they also emphasise the role the client must play (along with a quantity surveyor or builder) in managing their expenditure. “We’ve found that a lot of clients want to manage projects themselves, and they call on us as required,” Pete says. “Some clients are very hands-on and have the time and capability to get involved in aspects of the building process, while others would rather keep more of a distance.”

A view through the house from the entry to the studio.
Q+A
Bronwen Kerr and Pete Ritchie

HOME Why did you decide on a labour and materials arrangement (in which a builder is effectively paid by the hour and for the materials used) with your builder instead of a fixed-price contract? 

Pete Ritchie: We had a good friend who was the builder, and because we know the industry we could source some materials ourselves. We were our own project managers, and to work like that you need a builder who you trust. A labour and materials arrangement is a pretty open and honest kind of system. We didn’t want to pay a huge premium for a fixed price, and nor did we want the builder to make a loss on the job. So it seemed like an appropriate way for us to work. Architects do have experience and expertise that not everyone else has. This gives them more confidence to work this way. 

HOME You worked as the builder’s labourer. Is that an experience you’d like to repeat? 

Pete Ritchie: On the whole I enjoyed it – I also painted the house myself and stained all the weatherboards. That saved quite a bit of money. But in the middle of winter weeks can go by without you seeming to make much progress, and it’s a bit grim and very cold and you have smoko around a campfire. 

HOME Was the process of building your own place helpful in knowing about budgets? 

Pete Ritchie: It gives you a good idea of where clients are coming from. We naturally tend to be conservative with budgets, and we don’t try to extend clients. The process gave us a really good foundation of understanding where costs lie and how to work within a budget. 

HOME When you learned the house would cost more than you originally intended, did you think about revising the plan, and reducing the home's size? 
Pete Ritchie: We didn't really feel we had any option but to carry on as we had originally planned. We had certain needs and requirements which included the studio we work from. It's not a particularly fat house, so there wasn't much to trim off. We weren't in the mindset of creating a house that was oversized anyway.

The home is clad in dark Colorsteel.
↧
Viewing all 78 articles
Browse latest View live
Search