Trends New Zealand Trends Volume 31 No 10 New Zealand | Page 119

Straight
and true
A solid foundation – this
new house replaces an
older home destroyed in the
Christchurch earthquakes
Keep calm and carry on, says the popular
poster, and that’s just what the owners of this
property had to do following the devastating
Christchurch earthquakes.
Their old weatherboard home on the site
needed to be demolished after the earthquakes,
along with their plans for a major renovation.
But the need to build a new house did provide
an opportunity to improve on what went before,
says local architect Chris Wilson of Wilson and
Hill Architects, who had already been contracted to design the original remodel.
“Having already planned a new kitchen
for the family, which we didn’t have a chance
to build, I knew what they wanted and what
would work for their busy lifestyle,” Wilson
says. “But firstly, our attention was focused
on siting the house in a different position.
We decided to move it back from the street to
provide better access and space for cars at the
front. This also brought the house closer to a
picturesque stream that runs along the rear of
the property – the stream can now be seen from
inside the house.”
Wilson says the house has a precast concrete
panel construction to convey a sense of scale.
“Houses are often built from small modules,
such as bricks, but we wanted a material that
would articulate the sheer size of this house.
The concrete brings a sense of solidity, mass
and permanence – at the front the panels extend
past the top of the building, so they appear to
sandwich the roof, which makes the house seem
taller. And at the side they wrap right along the
house, reinforcing the strong, solid feel.”
Concrete also features inside. The slab for the
first floor has high acoustic performance, which
helps to separate the children’s area upstairs
from the living areas and parents’ retreat on
the ground floor. And the concrete has passive
thermal benefits, absorbing the heat from the
sun in winter to release it in the evening.

Left: With its soaring precast
concrete panels, this new house
radiates a sense of permanence
and security. The house, which was
designed by architect Chris Wilson,
replaces an older vVF