Architect Dominic Glamuzina discusses the suburban condition and our changing attitudes to boundaries,  openness and privacy. His house design in Cox’s Bay, Auckland, brings modern planning to a heritage neighbourhood, but takes its cues from a more democratic past. Text Dominic Glamuzina. Photos Sam Hartnett. The suburbs are contentious places, maligned by urban planning critics […]

As part of our suburban housing series, we look at the single house selecting three examples that do things a little differently. These range from the E-Type House by RTA Studio that is cut open with courtyards to a small-but-perfectly-formed 50-square metre home. And, finally, a pair of townhouses that accommodate three generations of one family.   […]

Kitchens are built-in design elements that are at once highly functional and expressive: typically the ‘engine room’ of the family home, they must also work with the architecture of the building. We review three examples, made of humble materials, whose personalities reinforce the overall design. Photography Simon Wilson. Sayes Stock kitchen, Auckland by Henri Sayes […]

Housing is a complex topic as there are so many factors that come into play – from sustainability to affordability, from aesthetics to technology, from regulations to demographics. Seeking new perspectives to these old questions, we asked six architects about some of the themes driving suburban house design in New Zealand today.     Smaller […]

Using a design/build approach based on economies of scale, this architect couple created three townhouse units in Seattle, one of which they’ve kept as a family home. Text Joe Malboeuf. Photography Rafael Soldi. According to a 2015 US Census Bureau report, Seattle just lost its status as the fastest-growing city in the United States. My […]

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 […]

  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 […]

  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 […]

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 […]

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 […]