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On a sloped site with a width of 10.5 metres that doglegs between two Freeman Bay streets, the client envisioned a modern house with a pool for herself and three sons.

The main street frontage was conceived as a folding of form to adopt the facade lines of the two disparate neighbouring architectural typologies. The fold facilitates a pedestrian entry into the house. The entry lands in a circle of water. The living area is broken into public and private space by a mirrored service core housing a bar, a bathroom and the stair leading to the main bedroom.

The pool courtyard was developed as a pivot to rotate the axis along the second leg of the site. The far end of the pool court provides a seating area to view the city whilst functioning as the roof of the children's wing. Access to this wing runs down alongside the pool courtyard. As these rooms are on a gradient at the lower end of the site, a level lawn area was constructed for them to play.

This house was conceived as a sculptural insertion within an existing urban context. Elements of the neighbouring houses were acknowledged and appropriated, including the gutter height of the bungalow and the frontage lines of both houses. The gable roof forms were assimilated but inverted in the entry stair. We play with the traditional villa construct of the ‘front room’ that is public to the street, while other areas of the house are carefully screened to limit neighbourly intrusion.


Designers: Daniel Marshall, Mike Hartley
Photographer: Simon Devitt

Daniel Marshall Architects
Auckland
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About the
Professional

We are DMA. We create carefully crafted architecture in NZ and abroad to seamlessly integrate people and place. 

Daniel Marshall Architects (DMA) is an Auckland-based practice who are passionate about designing high quality and award-winning New Zealand architecture. Our work has been published in periodicals and books internationally as well as numerous digital publications, including ArchDaily.com – the world’s most visited architectural website.

Daniel leads a core team of four individually accomplished designers who skillfully collaborate to resolve architectural projects from their conception through to their occupation. DMA believes architecture is a ‘generalist’ profession which engages with all components of an architectural project; during conceptual design, documentation and construction phases.

We pride ourselves on being able to holistically engage with a complex of architectural issues to arrive at a design solution equally appropriate to its context (site and surrounds) and the unique ways in which our clients prefer to live.