The privilege of living in Central Otago’s dramatic landscape often means making design compromises. Subdivisions in the region tend to have strict covenants – usually requiring gabled roof lines and the use of stone, all of it solidly anchored to the ground by a thick concrete slab.
Louise and Justin Wright of Arrowtown’s Assembly Architects were given a welcome opportunity to dodge the pitfalls and clichés of big Queenstown houses: the chance to work for a client with a passion for midcentury modernism and a collection of mid-century furniture, in a subdivision with relaxed design rules. Their response – a flat-roofed, modernist-inspired family home – sits delicately in the landscape, rather than trying to impose itself.
Taking cues from classics such the ‘Kaufmann’ house in Palm Springs by Richard Neutra, the roof gives the house its defining line; a horizontal marker designed so “it doesn’t break the ridgeline of the landscape beyond” in the way a gable would, says Louise. The modernist roots are clear: elegant lines, simple forms and a limited range of materials.
The house consists of two boxes wrapped in dark cedar, inside and out, and connected by a hallway between them. The living areas, a bedroom and garage are in the northern box; bedrooms in the southern box. To the north, a sheltered outdoor room with fireplace.
This story is from the February 2020 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 February 2020 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.