Maungakawa

Maungakawa

Waikato

A home for a young creative family and their small art collection which began with a painted work by Gordon Walters. The clients brief, like many Walters paintings, asked for the design to also use the calm of the painting as a starting point. The resulting plan outline is radially symmetrical. This creates a sense of place, order and serenity and also to provide for the practicalities of a cohesive family space.

The home is located in a clearing in dense bush, set on a rolling terrace at the edge of a nature reserve on Maungakawa Hill. It overlooks the often mist covered, lush Waikato farmlands below. A custom orange colour is used to counterbalance to the verdant greens of the surrounding forest.

Sitting on the edge of a nature reserve this family home is designed using all plantation grown renewable timber structure and cladding. Self-sustainable in respect to on-site water harvesting and wastewater treatment, this is a home for a young family that enjoys privacy, big sky and native forest

Completed
2011

Awards

NZIA Waikato/Bay of Plenty Architecture Award Winner, 2013

NZIA Colour Award, 2013

Photography

Simon Devitt