Project Minor dwelling
Architect Pat de Pont, SGA
Location Mt Eden, Auckland
Brief Build a secondary dwelling for rental, no bigger than 65 square metres
Sixty-five is a magic number. It brings certain freedom: the opportunity for reinvention and self-expression. And while some might wait for the age when NZ Super kicks in, others jump the gun. Sixty-five is still a magic number.
When Mt Eden residents Neil and Jill heard that the parameters of the Auckland Unitary Plan for their neighborhood included an as-of-right minor dwelling, they wondered if they could live well on a 65-square-meter footprint. The couple, now in their mid-fifties, moved to the suburb in 2011, to a house they called ‘The Tardis’: a 1920s bungalow with a monstrous basement and four double bedrooms.
“We loved the area, its proximity to town and Eden Park, and being near so much amenity,” says Neil. Although giving up work was not imminent, they wondered if building here could be the answer to an active retirement. They consulted a planning friend, stood on the elevated platform at the rear of the section and dared to dream.
When they spoke to Pat de Pont of Strachan Group Architects, he flipped the go switch. “He gave us a lot of comfort from the outset,” says Jill. She’s referring to de Pont’s calm-mannered, no-nonsense approach. But she could easily be talking about what he has massaged into the limited space. Faced with such spatial mastery, Neil put away his own preliminary sketches. “Pat came up with the opposite of a square box and looked at how to use light and natural energy,” says Jill.
A concrete path to one side of the original bungalow leads to a set of floating timber stairs at the entrance to the new home. Where once a few fruit trees dotted a lawn gone wild, there is now the ‘top’ house, a domestic world in miniature.
This story is from the August 2019 edition of HOME.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the August 2019 edition of HOME.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
The Past Is Present
In exhibitions at public galleries around the country, artists reflect on our collective, individual and cultural histories.
Why I Walk Carl Douglas
How the experience of walking reveals our world to us and informs our sense of our place in it.
My Favourite Building Chlöe Swarbrick
Built on Auckland’s Karangahape Road in the 1920s, St Kevin’s Arcade has served as vocational inspiration and a meeting place for the Green MP since she was a teenager.
Humble Special
PAC Studio designs a home on a tiny budget in the bush above the Kaipara Harbour.
Modern Love
Assembly Architects draws on lightweight Californian modernism to craftan elegant mountain retreat.
Family Tree
On a leafy site in the Waikato, Tane Cox crafts a subtle home for three generations
LOW PROFILE
Sometimes, strict covenants can be a blessing in disguise.
Fine Line
A house in a vineyard by Stuart Gardyne shows country living need not be rustic.
Elegant Shed
Ben Daly rehabilitates a farm building with a long family history on the Canterbury Plains.
Perfect Pitch
An encampment by an inlet casually inhabits land at Tawharanui.