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Located on Abberley Crescent between St Albans and Merivale this small and narrow property runs between 2 street frontages, Abberley Crescent and Kinleys Lane. The client requested an alteration to their existing Victorian workers' cottage to expand for an imminent addition to the family. The existing house had 2 bedrooms with very small cooking, living and ablution facilities.  
Our solution was to add and very long and narrow lean-to from the back of the cottage to the Kinleys Lane boundary. This allowed us to stretch the additional program along the southern boundary of the property: bathroom, kitchen, outdoor room, 3rd bedroom and single garage. The new addition now faces its long side to the north enabling each space to open and access the new north facing the garden.
In the context of a greenhouse form, (the client’s grandparents and family were greenhouse growers) north face of the gable roof is clad in polycarbonate to allow daylight and warmth into all new spaces. A recycled brick wall runs the entire length of the south side of the lean-to to provide a strongly insulated spine to the neighbour’s boundary. The original cottage has been refurbished and living space expanded into the original bathroom and kitchen areas.    
The addition is clad in steel plate cladding panels so that the greenhouse form of polycarbonate and steel is a foil to the weatherboard materiality of the cottage.

Awards

  • 2019 NZIA Canterbury Architecture Award - Housing Category

Professionals used in
Abberley House

About the
Professional

RTA Studio has received more than 60 New Zealand and international awards, including Home of The Year, a World Architecture Festival category win and the New Zealand Architecture Medal.

Richard Naish founded RTA Studio in 1999 after a successful career with top practices in London and Auckland. We are a practice that focuses on delivering exceptional design with a considered and personal service. Our work aims to make a lasting contribution to the urban and natural context by challenging, provoking and delighting.

Our studio is constantly working within the realms of public, commercial and urban design as well as sensitive residential projects. We are committed to a sustainable built environment and are at the forefront developing carbon neutral buildings.