Big ideas in copper and curves for a beachfront family home

The standing seam copper that entirely clads this architectural new build in Lyttelton’s Cass Bay is both dynamic and highly durable. That’s ideal for what is intended to be a forever home.

“Copper is such a nice material, because it's forever changing,” says Brad Bonnington of Bull O’Sullivan Architecture in Auckland. “It starts off very bright but it patinas and it will last a very long time. It will go green eventually, but every time I see it, it changes. It’s alive.”

Homeowners Aaron and Christine Green had a very open brief for their new home for Brad and his colleague Michael O’Sullivan. They had been living in a beloved family home for 30 years, but were determined to move to Cass Bay.

“They’d been looking in the area for a little while,” says Brad. “They purchased a site that had an existing house, but it was definitely not fit for purpose so they approached Michael to design a new home. They wanted us to provide something that potentially they would never have thought of.”

The only stipulations were for three bedrooms, a home theatre, and six-car garaging. “Aaron’s a car enthusiast,” says Brad. “The rest was really up for interpretation. And then they advised us very early on that they wanted to have the project filmed for Grand Designs New Zealand. So we worked with that along the way.”

The new-build home in Lyttelton is completely clad in copper. “We worked with The Architectural Roofing Company in Christchurch to come up with detailing and ways to make that work,” says Brad Bonnington of Bull O’Sullivan Architecture.

The skylight allows light into the living room area, but also provides views out to the bay from the mezzanine master bedroom. “We worked on site with the builders and homeowners to come up with a chimney form that was more attractive because you were looking at it from the bedroom,” says Brad. The sculptural ViBlock masonry block wall was built to provide privacy from the public car parking by the beach.

Michael came up with three concepts – the current, curved form being the most unconventional and the one that appealed most to the Green family.

“It’s a sculptural play around the cause and effect of its surrounding landscape,” says Brad. “The curvature is very site-driven. Each individual room is designed to get a view of the ocean or little snippets of view back to the ridgeline of the mountains behind Cass Bay. It’s an interesting site as for the most part it’s south-facing. In the winter you lose light very early. We also have a public beach in front, so we had to create privacy.”

Brad says the design and build process was very collaborative, and fluid.

“We went through a lot of iterations and changes. But they're all for the better, I believe.

They're obviously not timid clients, they were up for something bold. They had a vision of what they wanted to create with me and Michael.”

The Green family had long wanted to live in Lyttelton’s Cass Bay. The decorative parquet flooring is a representation of the mountainous ridgeline behind the home – JSC Timber supplied all timber finishes for the home. The spa on the deck is from Colonial Hot Tubs.

“We wanted something strong within that main living space,” says Brad of the brass kitchen island. “We do the whole thing, the whole process. We design all the cabinetry and joinery, anything that’s built. We drew all the kitchen cabinetry, the built-in furniture, the bench seating in the living room. It’s something we like to do. The home isn’t finished at the shell.”

Michael O’Sullivan of Bull O’Sullivan Architecture always likes to design the dining table in every home. “It’s really nice to design something that everyone’s going to sit around and enjoy,” says Brad. “It finishes off the project. This was always going to need a custom piece of furniture, because it curves around.”

The home has three bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms. Because each bedroom has an en suite the family hadn't decided whose room was whose through the process. “The one on the mezzanine above the kitchen is now the main bedroom,” says Brad.

Locals were very interested in progress. “Aaron was great, he was on site every single day and got to meet all the neighbours during the process and hear their opinions, which sounded quite interesting. We had a big roof shout halfways through and they invited all the neighbours, and they got to see what they were doing.”

Brad says those neighbours are probably surprised with the finished result however. “The inside is actually very different to the outside. At Bull O’Sullivan we like to use a lot of timber, such as the oaking wall lining and the play with plywood and triangular battens on the ceilings. The oak parquet floor is not a uniform parquet, it’s a representation of the mountains’ ridgeline. There were things that the client really liked and they were open to our suggestions. It was a fun project to work on.”

It was also very collaborative. “Clive Barrington Construction looked after the project. They were great. They were very accommodating with changes and knew what we were trying to create. We want to be collaborative with everyone in the process – clients, builders, you all want to be on the same page otherwise you might not get the result you want. We get to know clients on a personal level. It’s not just a working relationship. We want to be in a situation where we are welcomed back for dinner.”

And the Green family is very happy. “It was a bucket list item, to create an architecturally designed home,” says homeowner Aaron. “We had architects that really understood what we were wanting. It doesn’t feel like a house, it feels like a home. It’s very soothing and comfortable. It’s very special.”

Curved cedar joinery in the stairwell was a challenge, says Brad.

“I’ve never lived in a curved house before,” says homeowner Aaron Green. “You have to put all your trust in the architect because that's their skill and expertise. They'll have some crazy ideas but I suggest you let them explore those ideas, because that's where the nuggets of pure gold come from.”

“The movie theatre is a large component of the downstairs area. It’s through a hidden bookshelf door. That was a really fun process,” says Brad. All the theatre fittings came from the Green family’s previous home.

“We got a lot out of that site,” says Brad. “The site is 600sqm. We did well to achieve everything, and hide certain things we didn’t want to see in the landscaping.”

“The location is obviously very special. Looking across the water, there’s nothing like it,” says Aaron. “It’s very rare to get a site like this so we understand the responsibility to get something sitting on the landscape in a way that’s not obtrusive and that ultimately will settle down over time, blend in and look the part.”