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Into the wild: Oceania Biophilia Summit

Review | Glenorchy is the quintessential location for a summit about Biophilia. When looking into the practice of creating stronger connections between the natural world and the built environment – for the ben...

The future of green building

Review | While it was a shame to miss out on hearing Hon. Paula Bennett’s opening speech at the Green Property Summit 2017, the fact that she couldn’t make it due to traffic congestion was a point in itself. T...

Humanity and the machine

Review | Shed 10 was perhaps not the best place to be located on what felt like Auckland’s windiest day of the year, but the speakers at this year’s CoreNet Symposium, with their mind-blowing facts and figures...

Diversity in architecture: part one

Practice | Diversity in the New Zealand architectural profession is not just about gender but about including a range of ethnicities, abilities, sexualities, economic backgrounds and ages. Historically, the arch...

Nature play

Projects | An aspirational ideology was the basis for the design of Kākāpō Creek Children’s Garden. The clients, a teacher and a child psychologist, wanted to break away from the usual institutionalized nature o...

Hot House: Black Rock House

Projects | A site on a largely untouched headland in the sheltered and beautiful Lyttelton Harbour was a “once in a blue moon” opportunity for architect Jasper van der Lingen of Sheppard & Rout Architects to cre...

Place to be: St Benedicts flat

Projects | Auckland’s Eden Terrace is a gritty, city-fringe suburb on the move. With high-end apartment buildings such as SKHY and The Orange being established and redeveloped in its vicinity, its reputation as ...

Calligraphy and stone: The Books House

Projects | Three books stacked haphazardly on top of one another created an unusual basis for the design of this house, dubbed ‘The Books House’ by its architect Luigi Rosselli. The clients, a calligrapher and a...

Natural history: Valley Crescent House

Projects | With vistas of Black Peak, Treble Cone and Lake Wanaka to be enjoyed from this elevated site, it made sense to design a house that fronted the view and didn’t compete with it, in a style that ties in ...

Te Manawa Atawhai Catherine McAuley Centre

Projects | The New Zealand Sisters of Mercy originally arrived on the West Coast of the South Island in 1878, having been sent across the world from Ireland to share their teachings. Their founder, Catherine McA...

Rural reminders: 12 Year House

Projects | It may have taken some time to arrive at the finish line – around 12 years, hence the house’s title – but, for the owners of this contemporary hideaway 18km north-east of Nelson, it is an idyllic and ...

Hot House: Melbourne hiro-en

Projects | In Japanese architecture, an engawa is a transitional area that is neither inside nor outside the house: similar to a porch or a sunroom in function. The traditional purpose of the space is to allow t...

‘A piece of sculpture’: Tasman View House

Projects | The owners of this house are used to wide-spanning sea views; in a past life, they spent a lot of time sailing a yacht around the world. While not on the water, this house enjoys extensive views acros...

Summer living: New York getaway

Projects | Situated on a one-acre lot surrounded by established trees and beautiful hydrangea bushes, this traditionally styled shingle house is a classic example of a Hamptons holiday home. Like a lot of older ...

Ship’s ahoy: The Houseboat

Projects | Designed like the upturned hull of a ship, sheltering its interiors from the coastal site in Poole Harbour in southern England, The Houseboat is a light-filled, lofty home with a difference. / Its la...

Bardon House: Lakeside lodge

Projects | While surrounded by beautiful views and with opportunities for wilderness outdoor activities in all directions, this Wanaka house is overlooked by the higher-sited homes across the road. To counter th...

Fresh palette: The Rabbit Patch

Projects | Located in the suburb of Burnside in Christchurch, The Rabbit Patch is a purpose-built preschool that operates on the Reggio Emilia philosophy of learning, which includes seeing the learning environme...

Lakeside hideaway

Projects | Bellbirds sing and kereru roost in the native trees surrounding this hideaway near Queenstown. Located on the road to Glenorchy, within a stone’s skip from a calm bay in Lake Wakatipu, this site calle...

Parisian chic

Projects | Overlooking Le Moulin de la Galette, the historic windmill in Montmartre, Paris, this 1970s’ loft apartment is set out like a gallery space housing the inhabitants’ collection of contemporary art and ...

Energy flows

Projects | For Trustpower the impetus to move to these sparkling new headquarters in Tauranga’s CBD was all about accommodating for change. With the future of electricity as we know it being uncertain, Trustpowe...

Tree-hut hideaway: Jungle House

Projects | Located on a mountainside in São Paulo State’s Atlantic Forest, this house emanates the childhood feeling of being in a tree-hut: breezy, free from the stresses of the ground, and with an extraordinar...

Well connected: Black & White House

Projects | Standing at the front door, this 510m2 house appears like any other bungalow you might see on a tree-lined street in Remuera, but some surprises lurk beyond the original 1930s façade. The back half of...

Highly polished: Parnell Apartment

Projects | The apartment is located in a building perched on a steep rise in Auckland’s Parnell. It has an expansive terrace that fronts the city view, but the apartment was previously configured in a hodge-podg...

Sense of craft: Sea Change House

Projects | Named for the major lifestyle change the move to this house meant for its owners, the Sea Change House is a neat family home that manages to maintain privacy despite its tight suburban site. The homeo...

The modern bach: Pourerere Beach House

Projects | The small east coast settlement of Pourerere in the Hawke’s Bay consists of a narrow road and a strip of baches, many of which date back to the 1920s, spread along a slice of land at the base of a sea...

High performance

Projects | At 119 Great North Road (119 GNR as the building has come to be known), the luxury cars sparkle like jewels in the windows of the showroom, and the angles of the concrete structure in the building’s i...

Home on high

Projects | For those who spent their childhoods kicking around quarter-acre sections in suburbia, it might be difficult to imagine family life in a New York loft. According to American architect David Howell, wh...

Colonial charm: Stratford Street House

Projects | Much like Parnell's charming but narrow streets, the rooms in many of this suburb’s original villas can be difficult spaces for the modern family to navigate. Before renovation, this 1890s’ villa cons...

A good fit: Montreal Street House

Projects | / Despite being a new build with a contemporary aesthetic, this house on a busy inner-city street in Christchurch fits snuggly with its older neighbours. This is thanks, in part, to its form and siz...

Of the earth: Californian retreat

Projects | This family retreat stands on an old ranch property covering 200 hectares of farmland and hills in Central Valley, California. An expansive central living area forms a meeting space for extended famil...