Trends New Zealand Trends Volume 31 No 1 New Zealand | Page 36

With a scarcity of prime building sites in
our large cities, apartment buildings are
on the increase.
But look around the new projects and
it’s easy to see the low-cost cookie-cutter
development is becoming a thing of the
past. Modern apartment design is much
more people focused – today it’s all about
space and light, and bringing a human
scale to apartment buildings.
Architect Colin Leuschke of Leuschke
Group says it is also about innovation –
exploring new technology and materials

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that will help achieve these objectives.
The new Balfour apartment building,
which was developed by New Sun Company with Leuschke Group architects
Colin and Lindy Leuschke, epitomises the
new approach to multi-unit architecture.
“Apartment buildings can look very
regular and ordinary, so it is essential to
introduce detail to the exterior,” Colin
Leuschke says. “But this needs to be in
proportion to the size of the structure. To
break down the scale of this large building, for example, we introduced massive

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three-storey screens that look a little like
Corten steel. They are made from laser-cut
powdercoated aluminium that has been
painted to resemble timber.”
Leuschke describes the screens as
modern-day shutters.
“The screens provide privacy for the
master bedrooms, but they can be fold ed
back. They help to animate the exterior
of the building, so it is never static. From
the inside they look like timber, but they
are completely low maintenance, which is
essential for an apartment.”