Private Home, Whananaki North
By Smith Architects
Settled in the beautiful East Coast region of Northland, New Zealand, this holiday sanctuary elevates the traditional kiwi Bach.
The design forms one cohesive sleek volume into which timber cladded forms, containing the private spaces, are inserted. Door frames are recessed into the walls, allowing the internal space to open on either side. The blurring of boundaries between indoors and outdoors articulates views of the garden and captures the totality of the terrain.
Internally, the space is divided into distinctive areas, communal and private. The communal area is positioned in the very centre of the building, bringing together all family activities. The more private sleeping areas are separated off from the communal areas and expressed architecturally by the use of timber cladding and timber shutters.
Throughout the design, bespoke furniture pieces have been designed to complement the architecture and to enhance function – the beds are specifically designed for the size of the rooms and to allow a suitcase to be slipped underneath whilst open to enable easy use of the house for a weekend away.
With the glazed walls embracing the outdoors and creating transparency, the building harnesses cross ventilation and an abundance of natural daylight into the heart of the home. For thermal comfort the design includes an underfloor water-based heating and cooling system.
Water wise the building is completely independent. A biocycle sewage system treats black water onsite and uses the residue to irrigate the lush native planting, and two large underground rainwater storage tanks supply all the potable water needed.
Client: Private
Location: Whananaki, Northland,
New Zealand
Construction cost: Confidential
Area: 300m²
Programme: In progress
Project Team: Phil Smith, Akash Kumar
Construction by: D Lenssen Builders Ltd
Landscaper: D Lenssen Builders Ltd
Cabinetry: Guyco Joinery Ltd
Images: Collingridge and Smith Architects
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Private Home, Whananaki North
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About the
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Smith Architects is an award-winning international architectural practice creating beautiful human spaces that are unique, innovative and sustainable through creativity, refinement, and care.
Phil and Tiffany Smith established the practice in 2007. We have spent more than two decades striving to understand what makes some buildings more attractive than others, in the anticipation that it can help us design better buildings.
Recent advances in neuroscience and psychology have enabled scientists to unlock some of the reasons why we find certain works of art, objects and environments more attractive than others, and at the heart of it is simple Darwinian theory: if we find something attractive we will be more likely to choose that thing over another – be it a painting, a piece of music, a landscape or even a building.
At Smith Architects, we use these learning to inform our designs, striving to create beauty in everything we do, in the belief that beautiful spaces create better environments for human beings or ‘beautiful human spaces’.
We carefully integrates architectural, landscape, interior and furniture design skills to ensure projects achieve an holistic integrity that meets our client’s needs. At the core of our design rigour, we believe that modern, sustainable, research-based design delivers a successful project with innovative solutions that work for our clients.
Our Auckland, New Plymouth, and Arrowtown offices design and deliver projects ranging from refurbishments to new-builds; from domestic scale to urban master plans; from conception to completion. Our experience covers a broad range of typologies – masterplans, mixed-use schemes, residential; offices; cultural; educational; healthcare and childcare.
We work with a diverse client base, including developers, private, government and charities and have experience of working with multiple stakeholders on challenging sites around the world.
We are a member of the New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA), the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC), Site Safe New Zealand, and the Sustainability Business Network.
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