The Knoll - Greenhithe

We relished the collaboration in building this architectural home inspired by iconic American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. It was a real team effort. According to architect Megan Edwards, there is a simple geometry to the floor plan: “two rectangular, two-storeyed volumes connected by a stairwell and bridge.” Pavilions which appear as elegant planes hover over the regenerating native bush. Half-round copper spouting and cantilevered roofs emphasise the horizontal lines while a substantial garage dissolves into the façade. Shallow entry steps and the warm-toned Hinuera stone cladding give little away except perhaps… the keen of eye will notice metal detail-work on the slot windows – a hint of intricacies to come. “The owners wanted a spacious home, with enough room to entertain and a bedroom each for their grown-up children to use on sleepover visits,” says Megan. But they are also collectors who admire well-made things – so, a modernist floor plan with a real “sense of interior” was the pathway. On entry, the warmth of timber makes an immediate impression: the cedar tongue-and-groove ceiling and soffits, oil-finished American oak floors and joinery jambs, and Tasmanian blackwood cupboards in the kitchen.  The generous proportions of the built envelope are stunning; upstairs, in the main living zones, the stud is 3.2 metres. To the east and west, corners of the room have no supporting posts, continuous soffits and 1.2 metre overhangs so that there’s an incredible sense of the cantilever as the sides peel back to the terrace and garden. To the north, a loggia provides a place to gather with the harbour as backdrop. Copy abridged from a feature story in Urbis Magazine