As a practice, we always
seek to distill projects down to the essence and this project was no exception.
The idea was to create two very singular volumes with distilled detailing,
minimal finishes and a real attention to craft, thus allows for quite a calm environment as well
as an interior space that doesn't lack character but it's still very still and meditative.
The project is located in Eastbourne a suburb of Wellington at the bottom of
the North Island in New Zealand. Eastbourne is a Seaside suburb
with native forest hills to the East and Wellington Harbour to the West.
The clients were after a beach property as a counterpoint to
their existing house which is in a rural setting outside of Wellington.
So when we thought about the natural characteristics of the site that led us
to thinking about how you might allocate space for living and sleeping and what we wanted to do was
create at the front of the project a public space, separated the living space with the courtyard
from the sleeping space and so that allowed us to have a more private space at the heart
of the building and at the perimeter of the interior courtyard is a glazed link.
The glass connection allowed us to have quite a nice moment of transition rather than being
a dark hallway it's a light-filled space that has a strong connection to the garden
and is wide enough that the clients could display artwork as well as important objects.
The plan for this building and the actual topography of the site means
that when you stand at the back of the site you can actually look
all the way through the building and out to the harbour beyond.
We tried to use materials that add a little bit of texture to them so we've got high
quality materials that are used throughout the building and throughout the project but there
are materials that as you pay closer attention to them start to see a little bit more patina
and imperfection. So we've got bandsawn floors, bandsawn cladding, the paving in the courtyard is,
it's tumbled so it takes off the rough edges, the stone that we've used throughout the project
that's a honed finish so that's not as pristine and polished as other stones that you might see.
Timber was really important for us, has allowed us to create a piece of architecture that had
a strong connection to the landscape but also utilised materials that have very local feel to
them the timber for the exterior cladding is New Zealand pine and the macrocarpa is also grown here
in New Zealand. Macrocappa is a really interesting building material because not only is it quite
stable but also gives off this really beautiful scent as soon as you walk into the home the entry
which is aligned with macrocarpa boards gives you that glimpse of materiality found throughout
the house. It has really beautiful smell as well as a lovely texture, and tone to its colouring.
Refinement is important for us to practice and that's something that Fisher & Paykel
also strongly believe in, refining products down to their very essence and in pairing
that with immaculate detailing the same way that we assemble projects.
We're always really attracted to Fisher & Paykel's integrated appliances for their
seamless look in the way that it can just be hidden behind cupboard doors.
We have ovens, integrated fridge and freezer, integrated to straws as well as the really
minimal slick black cooktop and range hoods that seem to really work in the natural stone.
My favourite part of the project is the way the house sits within its context,
on one part it feels slightly alien but on another
it feels very much in keeping with the typology of the neighbouring houses
with the hipped roof, the spouting alignments and the way that it's set back off the street.
So as a practice we love simplicity, we love craftsmanship, we love the atmosphere and so
for this project it wasn't any different, we were searching to create those things.
We love to create moments in a project so it might be you're sitting at the dining table with both
the windows open and the sun is setting on the table and there might be a gentle breeze, and then
it's just a moment where you're really enjoying the space,
you're really enjoying the people you're with, you're really enjoying just that time.