'Architecture works well when it makes life better, it can bring comfort, ease and joy into your life'
'Architecture works well when it makes life better, it can bring comfort, ease and joy into your life'
This house sits on the saddle of a ridgeline overlooking the basin of the Wairau River, a navigable, and always changing waterway.
The house does two things at once.
Murray House, 2001
Clevedon, Auckland
Home New Zealand Feb/Mar 2007
Architecture New Zealand November / December 2005
A new house for the architect’s parents.
This house sits on the saddle of a ridgeline overlooking the basin of the Wairau River, a navigable, and always changing waterway.
The design responded to the site’s incredible position and awe-inspiring view, found at the end of a long path, out from the city, across the farmland to the south before winding up the hill.
The house does two things at once.
The first is a continuation of this travelled line - forming a bridge across the saddle making a connection to the Pa site and to the end of the peninsular beyond.
The second is a division. The wall is a line between the outlook to the North - all glinting light and water that is moving and alive; and the outlook to the South - all dark green farmland, and trees, quiet and still. The house was designed to maximise the appreciation of the view, and the site. In places it opens up completely to the view, in places it frames quiet moments.
This project is a reflection of the value of a simple idea, an incredible site, and the trust of supportive parents!