Interior Spaces: Love thy neighbour
Coffered ceilings maximise the apartments’ floor-to-floor height, with services pushed to the perimeter.
Perforated screens, louvres and aluminium fins regulate light and airflow and provide a degree of privacy.
A base of honed Chambolle limestone lends solidity to the build.
Coffered ceilings maximise the apartments’ floor-to-floor height, with services pushed to the perimeter.
While all apartment bathrooms feature framed, fluted-glass bathroom partitions, the rest of the space was tailored to the individual buyers.
While the majority of the apartments feature chevron oak floors and stained oak cabinetry, each apartment was then individually crafted around the purchaser’s particular requirements.
The grand porte cochère entrance anchors and connects the east and west buildings and leads to a generous entry hall and reception areas.
Perforated screens, louvres and aluminium fins regulate light and airflow and provide a degree of privacy.
When Leuschke Group Architects was tasked with designing a landmark apartment building on the Remuera ridge line, they were doing so with the most discerning of buyers in mind. Amanda Harkness considers the vision.
The client and developer of Auckland’s recently completed Victoria Lane apartments had lived “just down the road” for the past 30 years and so, too, had the majority of the new homeowners looking to move in. Such close proximity resulted in close scrutiny, as the north-facing, 23-apartment project began to rise along its narrow, two-site section tucked neatly in behind Remuera Village.
“The design intent was both to embrace the urban density and to provide a variety of spatial experiences, both within the building and from the urban context,” explains lead architect Andrew Craig.
With an approach purposefully reminiscent of arriving at one of the classic grand hotels (think The Plaza, The Ritz or The Savoy), a grand porte cochère anchors and connects the east and west buildings and leads to a generous entry hall and reception areas.
A rich, textured base of honed Chambolle limestone lends solidity to the build while layered elements of bronze and black detailing in the form of perforated screens, louvres and aluminium fins add to the elegant aesthetic, regulating light and airflow and providing a degree of privacy.
Within the private spaces, no two apartments are the same. Although many feature chevron oak floors, stained oak cabinetry and framed, fluted-glass bathroom partitions, each apartment was individually crafted around the purchaser’s particular requirements.
“Many of the apartment owners were downsizing,” says Craig, “and were keen for us to replicate the tastes and nuances of their original homes but in a more contemporary manner.” Coffered ceilings maximise the apartment block’s 3.1-metre floor-to-floor height, with services pushed to the perimeter, and bespoke joinery and polished plaster walls lend a sense of luxury to the spacious dwellings.
The building’s location provides its residents with easy access to restaurants, cafés, bars and shopping via a landscaped laneway through to Remuera Road and, for those with visitors from out of town, there is an overnight suite for guests. Now, with the owner-occupied apartments fully sold, it seems that Victoria Lane has proved to be a welcome and sought-after addition to the neighbourhood.
The Interior Spaces series is brought to you by GIB® in partnership with ArchitectureNow. Find out more about GIB Weatherline® Rigid Air Barrier Systems in the video below.
ArchitectureNow works with a range of partners in the A&D supply sector to source appropriate content for the site. This article has been supported by GIB®.
