By Herriot Melhuish O'Neill Architects Ltd
Working in partnership with USA firm Marmol Radziner and Associates, we developed a Californian Modernist style house redefined to sit in a Central Otago context.
The challenge was to adapt the traditional layered horizontal planes of the ‘modernist Californian pavilion’ to local planning rules and extreme weather conditions; and of course, take advantage of the spectacular views to the north of the site. Our client requested clever detailing to deliver cost effective solutions to these parameters.
Stepping the house across the site and running the main roof slope parallel to the hillside allows the house to find a niche in the topography. Heavy stone and plaster walls create a spine along the back of the house which anchors the structure to the land.
The design responds to the local context with careful choice of materials, merging the house with the surrounding landscape when viewed at a distance, but retaining a sense of character when met at a personal scale.
Photos by Emily Andrews.
Herriot Melhuish O’Neill Architects is an NZIA award-winning practice with studios in Wellington, Christchurch, Auckland and Tauranga. Established in 1997, our rich portfolio of commercial and residential work demonstrates a strong commitment to creating beautifully-crafted architecture that enhances the lives of those who experience our buildings – both inside and out.
We believe that enduring architecture is a delicate balance of factors – our clients’ needs and aspirations, our professional training and expertise, the history and nature of the site – but also intuition and commonsense. Every design decision, from materials to how the building complements the landscape, matters to us and adds to the experiential qualities of our projects.
Directors Max Herriot and John Melhuish in Wellington, Duval O'Neill in Christchurch and Matt Pearson in Auckland are committed to the best architectural design practices. HMOA Associate and registered architect Jenny Duck runs the Tauranga studio.
As well as new homes and house renovations, we have experience in the education, recreation, heritage, health and hospitality sectors, office interiors, multi-unit developments, civil projects and master-planning.