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The unique design of the cottage and its location, backing onto the playing fields of St Paul’s College, attracted the clients, who immediately saw the appeal of inner-city living coupled with the benefits of the park-like school grounds, the location offered.
Internally the house consisted of only 85m2 over 2 floors and required a complete reorganisation to create a modern family home. The existing house was lifted and shifted back from the street to create a parking pad out the front, a necessity on John Street where parking is compromised.
The original portion of the house has been modernized but maintains its character. It now houses the bedrooms, the house bathroom downstairs and a master suite upstairs. The front façade has remained faithful to the original cottage.
The contemporary extension out the back, a sleek modern box is juxtaposed against the original. This incorporates a modern kitchen which opens to a sun-filled north facing courtyard. An open-plan living and dining room in turn opens onto the deck and terraced garden. In the Japanese tradition of “borrowed scenery” the garden appears to continue through a back gate and onto the rolling playing fields beyond.
The original weatherboards, timber window joinery and interior character features have been maintained in the cottage while the extension is clad and fitted out with modern materials including Equitone Minerals, aluminum joinery and mebrane roofing.
Photographer
Emma-Jane Hetherington
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We're an architecture and design studio creating warm spaces for human connection. We believe architecture thrives on play and exploration, where clever solutions and clear dialogue create a dynamic interplay between all the elements of a project, bringing them all into balance.
Our directors, Tim Dorrington and Sam Atcheson, have spent over twenty years developing a design philosophy that's playful, balanced and inclusive. Clever solutions to interesting challenges are one of the hallmarks of our work, as is an eternally-youthful enthusiasm for creating truly transformative design. We like to think of it as delivering just enough surprise to truly delight our clients.
We're proud of the impact our team has made on the built environment of Aotearoa, with multiple NZIA Awards to our name and a roster of happy clients. We specialise in residential projects, but have also had success with retail and commercial environments.
Our approach is highly collaborative. While we often draw on the rich lineage of mid-century modernism, we're not design dictators. Every project is a response to site, budget and our clients dreams and objectives. It's an honest and open process, which reflects in the materiality of our buildings and the experience of the spaces we create.
Our design philosophy:
playful, human, balanced, clever, inclusive, transformative.
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