By Studio Pacific Architecture
Aspin Road House is located on a large rural site near Cambridge. The home caters to a large family and fulfils the client’s aspiration for a dynamic home with strong visual connections to its surroundings. The home encourages entertaining and outdoor living through an outside-in arrangement while exhibiting strong environmental values.
The first stage of the design process focused on developing a landscape plan in which the house would be placed on the 2.1 hectare site. This allowed for the early establishment of trees and shrubs, which occurred six months before design began on the residence and transformed the bare paddock into a residential lot.
The subtly modernist courtyard is the main feature of the house, with three living areas arranged around it. Two sleeping wings are situated on either side of the courtyard, with the central living and family space bridging them. Cohesion is maintained throughout the three living spaces by an amplified pop-up roof form that gives hierarchy to the central living space. The central hub is further enhanced by a heroic full-height concrete fireplace and high-vaulted timber ceiling.
Shaping Our Pacific Future – We are a cross-disciplinary architecture, interior, landscape and urban design practice shaping a more sustainable and people-centric built environment across the buildings, neighbourhoods, cities, and landscapes of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Studio Pacific was established in 1992 by friends and colleagues Evžen Novák, Nick Barratt-Boyes, and Stephen McDougall. After working in the UK and Europe, the three architects were drawn back home by a shared desire to form a collaborative and innovative practice in Te Whanganui-a-Tara – Wellington.
They opened an architecture studio ‘of the Pacific’, applying their creativity to projects that engaged with, and elevated, context and culture. Over the years, this has grown into a compelling manifesto to shape our collective Pacific future, where people and the planet are at the heart of our built environment.
Today, we are a team of around 100 – including architects, urban designers, landscape architects, interior designers and business professionals. We bring diversity in thinking and design, and a democratic culture ensures clever ideas come from all corners of the practice, not necessarily from those who have been here the longest.
Open-minded, collaborative and creative, our practice has evolved into a leading and award-winning business, working on a wide range of exciting projects that seek to make Aotearoa New Zealand a better place.