Kerr Ritchie Architects designed this home for a ceramicist and her family on a precipitous Dunedin site. Simple forms and practical materials connect with the port and harbour, while elegant proportions provide beauty and grace. Text Bronwen Kerr and Pete Ritchie Photography Paul McCredie. This Dunedin home for a couple and their young daughter occupies […]

Sydney architect Brad Swartz explains how he turned 27 square metres in a Darlinghurst block into a functional and beautiful one-bedroom apartment for him and his partner. Being close to the city won over size for this young professional couple. Photos Katherine Lu. When we bought it, this was a rundown apartment consisting of a […]

  Architects generally add colour through materiality: mostly natural colours derived from timber, stone, and metal. For this issue of The Design Guide, we were interested in projects that use bold colour in architectural ways. Houses and apartments with colour baked into materials, such as brick, steel, plaster or tiles. Interiors where colour drives the […]

First appearances are deceiving for this Waiheke Island family home by Bull O’Sullivan Architecture, where sumptuous materials form a warm counterpoint to the utilitarian exterior. Text Michael O’Sullivan and Brad Bonnington. Photography Simon Devitt. From the street, this house looks like a utilitarian building, with its long, inclined and cranked corrugated façade and single window. […]

Congratulations to all the Best Design Awards finalists and winners for 2017! Below are the residential winners in the Spatial category – a Sydney apartment, a small house in Christchurch, a large house in Auckland, and a colour award for a 1960s modernist gem in Titirangi.   Cleveland Rooftop, Sydney by SJB. Repurposed spaces. Judge’s comments: A […]

Opportunities for urban green space are increasing as we reconcile density with human needs and sustainability. From pocket parks to green walls to communal rooftop vege plots, some clean air and domesticity is softening our cities. Written by Andrea Stevens.   The Commons rooftop garden, Melbourne (above) By Breathe Architecture, photo Andrew Wuttke The five-storey […]

  The ‘do up’ and ‘flick on’ culture that seems to define much of New Zealand and Australian housing places our homes at the centre of a business venture, a far cry from the social and urban projects they really are. Perhaps it’s time we move on from our ‘pioneer’ mentality and imagine a community […]

This concrete block townhouse shows how one couple successfully made the move from the suburbs to the city in one of New Zealand’s fastest-growing centres. They, and the architect Adam Mercer, offer their views on this social yet private building. Text Andrea Stevens, Photography Simon Devitt. Defying the New Zealand dream of retreating to the coast […]

  There are many variables in choosing a cladding type including budget, function, maintenance, aesthetics, architectural intent and context. A cladding type can take on a different character and meaning depending on the building design or setting. Some schemes have a strong cladding concept from the start, while others evolve during the design process. Generally speaking […]

Converting a heritage kiln near Melbourne into a home has led to some dynamic and unconventional outcomes. Architect Andrew Simpson discusses the benefits of flexible and adaptive design. Text Andrew Simpson. Photography Peter Bennetts. This house is the outcome of a close collaboration with one half of the client team, artist and landscape architect Charles Anderson. […]

  The word ‘luxury’ can have many meanings, depending on how far you want to look back. One of its Latin roots meant ‘rankness’ and another, ‘lechery’. In Old French it is related to debauchery and lust. Today, the word is more often associated with luxury places – resorts and spas – and while the […]

New Zealand Architect Richard George questions conventional planning and how one might make a house more flexible and adaptable for the long term. Photography by Simon Devitt. Too many houses are designed and built without questioning the core principles of design. In building relatively conventional houses, we still follow a given equation without ever asking why […]

Joseph Hampton of Warren and Mahoney discusses sustainability in house construction, and how to reduce impact on the environment both during the build and for a lifetime. Residential architecture has delivered many sublime moments of spatial mastery to humankind, yet it can also be responsible for altering the natural landscape and sprawling into the green fields […]

Wellington architect Gerald Parsonson muses on the evolution of New Zealand architectural styles from north to south. Photo Paul McCredie. Architecture at its most basic level provides shelter and comfort for human beings. But ultimately it is driven by our dreams and aspirations. Over the last few thousand years, there has been infinite debate about […]

Douglas and Bec is a furniture and lighting design studio, founded in 2006 as a collaboration between designer Bec Dowie and her father, furniture maker Douglas Snelling. With a philosophy to create innovative and unique pieces using the richest materials, meticulously refined and crafted to last a lifetime, Douglas and Bec has grown into an […]

The Line Floor Lamp pays homage to sculptor Alexander Calder – designer Bec Dowie’s combines his habitual playfulness with her simple yet formal combination of elegant natural materials. As with many Douglas and Bec products, the Line Floor Lamp looks deceptively simple when fact there are 10 contributors in the making of this piece. The […]

Sydney architects Chenchow Little explain how they converted an introverted Victorian terrace in Sydney into a breezy and connected house design, using careful planning and innovative devices to bring space and light into a difficult site. Text Tony Chenchow and Stephanie Little. Photography John Gollings and Katherine Lu. The Skylight House is located on 120 […]

Multi-unit living is taking its rightful place in the spotlight at last and these three townhouses in Christchurch offered us the chance to combine design flair with innovative construction technology on a compact infill site with tight constraints. Text Daryl Maguire, Warren and Mahoney. Photos Dennis Radermacher. Salisbury Street is close to Hagley Park and […]

We’re rethinking suburbia, and in our latest issue architects lead the discussion. Photo Sam Hartnett. Our predominant housing types reflect an historic preference for the detached single-family dwelling, but the kiwi dream is not a good fit with the diversity of people and households we now have in our communities, and no longer a very […]

Anita Panov and Andrew Scott designed and built their own inner city sanctuary in Sydney, Australia. Rather than deny the ambience and clamour of the city, they planned their home to embrace it, modelling its spaces to deliver a mix of stimulation, social comfort and solitude. Photos Brett Boardman. A few years ago, we designed […]