River Run

Architect Dan Smith and his wife Sam leave Auckland to build a small, crisp house in Taupiri, on the banks of the Waikato River.

- Aimie Cronin

In many ways, it’s a familiar story of a young couple wanting to own their first home and not being able to afford it in Auckland. Dan and Sam Smith, who both grew up in Hamilton, looked south and decided the Waikato region’s affordability was alluring, as was its comparatively minute traffic issues and its proximity to family. Their journey deviated in its predictability when Dan saw a narrow piece of land in Taupiri, facing north toward the river, and his architect brain began ticking over.

“It was all about the site,” says Dan, of moving to the town 25 kilometres north of Hamilton and 100 kilometres south of Auckland, population 417 at the last census. “We came here and saw the view and location and it’s actually awesome; we are 20 minutes to Hamilton on the new expressway and an hour to Auckland, so we still go see our friends. This place was a quarter of the price of anywhere in Auckland – we just couldn’t afford to build without moving to a place like this.”

On the front of the section, a rundown 1960s weatherboard home sat gathering dust. The couple tidied it up, moved in and began plotting the design for a place by the river. Dan, an architect at Edwards White Architects in Hamilton, was encouraged by his new bosses to learn all he could from being involved in the building of his first home. He jumped at the chance.