The Garden House

The property is located on a relatively narrow sloping site close to the city centre and beside the Botanical Gardens in Wellington. A new 2 storied house with 1 bedroom and 2 studies has been built on the remains of an existing 1960’s house that was demolished down to its floor level with the basement garage retained and re-used along with the existing Rimu floorboards. The house is arranged around a north-facing garden courtyard, which allows sun onto the living spaces in the centre of the plan and provides a small tranquil and private outside sitting area. There are views from the main living spaces to the Botanical Gardens across the road below, including from the rear rooms, which are able to look through and over the living spaces and courtyard garden. The house is designed to accommodate the owner’s wonderful collections of furniture, art and mid-century light fittings. The exterior is clad in softly stained vertical cedar in line with the existing dwelling and to sit at ease with the surrounding greenery. Because the roof of the house slopes up the site it appears very low-key and almost hidden when seen from the Botanical Gardens or the road below. Sustainability statement The house has been built using Passive House principles, with high levels of insulation, sophisticated building wraps and separated layers for the running of services, all tested for air leakage on completion, which ensures the house only requires minimal heating and cooling. It is built predominantly using materials with low carbon footprints. The main structural material is timber, apart from a small amount of structural steel and roofing is metal. Exterior cladding is Western Red Cedar, interior trims Eucalyptus Saligna and ceilings Okoume plywood.  Windows are thermally broken with Low E glass. Flooring is reused and recycled and the basement garage and existing large steel members supporting the upstairs are re-used in place, With a large bush-clad hill to the west, the house does lose afternoon sun, particularly in the colder winter months. The central courtyard combined with the roof rising upwards towards the hill ensure the maximum amount of low-angle sun is able to light up the interior spaces. The positioning of windows and panels ensures there is generous natural cross ventilation and cooling. Heating is via electric wall panels. All timber is FSC certified timber and interior timbers are finished in natural wood oils. Photography - Paul McCredie Project date - 2019