Best of 2018: Top five houses

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The <em>ArchitectureNow</em> top five houses of 2018 include a Lake Wanaka holiday home, a Bay of Islands retreat and a darkly-clad Auckland house. — The *ArchitectureNow* top five houses of 2018 include a Lake Wanaka holiday home, a Bay of Islands retreat and a darkly-clad Auckland house.

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Sunrise Bay House in Wanaka by Warren and Mahoney. Image: Sarah Rowlands

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Castor Bay House in Auckland by Strachan Group Architects. Image: Simon Devitt

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Mount Eden House in Auckland by homeowner/designer Rachyl Abraham. Image: Sam Hartnett

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Paihia House in the Bay of Islands by Herbst Architects. Image: Jackie Meiring

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Forest Pavilion in Titirangi by Chris Tate Architecture. Image: Simon Devitt

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As 2018 comes to a close, we revisit some of our most-read New Zealand houses of the year. From a Northland retreat that seems to sprout wings and fly to a Lake Wanaka holiday home that emulates its surrounds, the year has been full of inspiring spaces. See our top five below.

Series of pavilions: Sunrise Bay House

Sunrise Bay House in Wanaka by Warren and Mahoney. Image: Sarah Rowlands

When you have an outlook towards Ruby Island – a jewel in sparkling Lake Wanaka – you want to make the most of it. This Central Otago holiday retreat for a couple from Christchurch and their three young children has a privileged position on one of the last remaining waterfront blocks on the western edge of the lake. But Ian Adamson and Hilton Miller from Warren and Mahoney resisted the temptation to design an elongated home facing the view. Read more…

Anchored in the bay

Castor Bay House in Auckland by Strachan Group Architects. Image: Simon Devitt

When the owners of this Castor Bay house, Tim Duffett and Caroline Boot, were looking to build, they happened across the Strachan Group Architects-designed Boatsheds house in Takapuna. The stunning house, which won a national NZIA award in 2015, features black-stained vertical cedar pavilions and plywood interior walls and ceilings. Read more…

Enduring: Mount Eden House

Mount Eden House in Auckland by homeowner/designer Rachyl Abraham. Image: Sam Hartnett

Where the girls in the Gray family once sat on the front verandah darning, knitting and chewing the breeze (back in the 1860s), now, Rachyl and Tony Abraham, and their three children enjoy weekend breakfasts at a specially designed window bar that overlooks leafy suburbia through to the Waitakeres. Although needlework has been relegated to the annals of history, and the view from this hilltop eyrie has changed, the house itself, built in 1862, remains just as special as it was. Read more…

Taking flight: Paihia House

Paihia House in the Bay of Islands by Herbst Architects. Image: Jackie Meiring

Located in Paihia in the Bay of Islands, where English explorer Captain James Cook first sailed into New Zealand nearly 250 years ago, is a house on a hill overlooking pounamu-coloured waters dotted with lushly vegetated islands. For a house to hold its own among such stunning scenery, it needed great architects to take command so Auckland-based Herbst Architects took on the task. Read more…

‘An arm or a leg’: Forest Pavilion

Forest Pavilion in Titirangi by Chris Tate Architecture. Image: Simon Devitt

Designed by Chris Tate Architecture, Forest Pavilion is sited on a swampy piece of land at the back of a new subdivision situated at the southern end of the Waitakere ranges in the West Auckland suburb of Titirangi. In Māori, Titirangi means ‘fringe of heaven’, which seems apt here. A heavenly view of foliage is framed by a dramatic piece of steel structure that extends out of the building like “an arm or a spider’s leg”, suggests Chris Tate. Read more…