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 […]

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. […]

Architect Andrea Bell and interior designer Karen Ngan Kee discuss how architecture and interior design can work to create a seamless whole. When approaching a project, we don’t bring a ‘house style’. As an architect-interior designer team, each project is entirely unique. We absorb our client’s values, needs and wants. We examine the site and […]

Understanding the relationship between space and light is fundamental to designing spaces that are to be lived in. Architect Marc Lithgow shares some important insights from a recent project. With this project, we wanted to arrange space, light and materials so as to transform a project constrained by its location on-site into an open and […]

How you finish your home is often what connects the architecture with your personality. Yvette Jay explains how. The role of an interior designer is to be responsible for the colours, finishes, textures and interior forms needed to complete the physical and emotional experience of architecture. Good design appears effortlessly elegant. It innovates yet also […]

Mark S. Graham describes how to open up the busiest room in the house with flexible thinking. Today’s busy lifestyles mean the kitchen has evolved into the hub of a home. It’s become the meeting place where family and household members come together to share news and make plans. No other room in your home […]

New Zealand lighting luminary Mike Thorburn talks mood and shade. Lighting is more than illumination. It’s an essential component in creating an ambient mood and in ensuring a room can be enjoyed in the desired manner. Gone are the days of simplistic lighting when all that was required was a single light fitting in the […]

Interior designer Yvette Jay discusses the most intimate and personal space in a house. Bathrooms have outgrown their purely functional role. They are now a space for retreat where we connect with one of life’s most vital and essential elements — water. The role of bathroom design is to enhance this connection by creating a […]

New Zealand architect Marshall Cook writes about his approach to residential architecture, how site and context affect the design, and how a house must adapt as its users move through life. In any building design project, there will be limitations to what can be achieved on the site within the allowable budget. Our challenge is […]