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 […]

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 […]

Local farm buildings inspired the form and aesthetic of this house; long pitched roofs break down its scale and allow it to reach into the landscape. Photography Simon Devitt. Our brief was to design a practical family home that could accommodate visiting adult children, spouses and grandchildren. Our clients, Ken and Helen, had been living […]

Auckland architect Pete Bossley looks at several common urban housing typologies for New Zealand cities, and comments on how denser cities can become more efficient and sustainable. Photo Simon Devitt. It may not seem so, but New Zealand is relatively highly urbanised. Over 50 per cent of us live in cities. Admittedly, our cities are […]

Nelson architect Jeremy Smith writes about transforming a commercial construction system into a cost-efficient, robust and poetic family home. Text Jeremy Smith. Photography Patrick Reynolds. Architecture to us is about questions. What is important? Who needs what? What makes it sing? Questions allow us to break a project down into key elements and make each […]

In reference to the simple fishing and summer cottages of Taieri Beach, this modern bach design affords more height and volume. Text Mason & Wales, Photography Ewen Livingstone The cottages of the coast are a product of their environment – influenced in scale and form by function, affordability and DIY construction, and often involving building additions and […]

Co-housing offers a return to a more integrated and social living environment, with lower capital cost and energy use for a sustainable architecture. Architect Andrew Benn and his mother Suzanne test the concept in Sydney. Photo Tom Ferguson. With housing affordability now a major policy issue for our cities, and the need for sustainable housing […]

The B+B House has a sense of the monumental, a feature of Brazilian modernism with its open, poetic and optimistic character. Clean, cubist forms are influenced by local construction technology, but also by the climate and way of life. Raw concrete allows abstract modelled forms, while its passive cooling potential moderates the climate. Photos Fernando Guerra […]

Houses that reflect physical or poetic qualities of a place become more powerful and memorable. Here are three ‘buildings in the landscape’ that respond to the uniqueness of their environment. Photos Simon Devitt. Lake House by Stevens Lawson Architects On the edge of a South Island lake, the folding forms of this architecturally-designed house camouflages […]

Congratulations to all Friday night’s award winners at the NZIA Architecture Awards! Awards jury convenor, Auckland architect Pete Bossley commented: ”It has been a strong year in New Zealand architecture, and the buildings we saw amazed and enticed us. It was a privilege to visit them, and a challenge to judge them.” Here are the new houses […]

Architectural practice kerr ritchie  explain their approach to integrating comfort and seasonal warmth into two South Island houses. Living and designing in the south of New Zealand brings rewards and challenges. Perhaps the most significant factor is that we have very distinct seasons. Summers can be very hot whilst winters can feel prolonged and drawn […]

The chiselled form of this courtyard house echoes a landscape of extremes. Architect Dominic Glamuzina discusses the need to address the cold, and embrace the warmth, of Central Otago. Text Dominic Glamuzina. Photography Patrick Reynolds and Sam Hartnett. Working to a thoughtful brief and rigorous budget, Aaron Paterson and I looked at old building practices […]