Trends New Zealand Trends Volume 31 No 12 New Zealand | Page 58
Line of sight
All the better to see through – this new house
features two glass pavilions separated by
an outdoor terrace and a 25m lap pool
As older homes in established suburbs
give way to new, the architectural typology
changes. But it’s not just what you see
from the street that spells change – what’s
happening on the inside can be even more
significant, and it’s all about lifestyle.
This new house replaces a tired older
home in a leafy suburb where most of the
properties are large.
Architect Craig Steere of Craig
Steere Architects was commissioned to
design a home suitable for a family with
four mature sons. The house needed to
provide separate spaces for the par ents
and younger members of the family, but it
also needed communal areas where everyone could be together.
These requirements determined both
the look and form of the house. With the
site measuring 60m from front to back,
the architects conceived the house as a
long volume comprising two linked glass
pavilions – one a formal living area and
private retreat for the parents at the front,
the other a family zone at the rear.
“The glass pavilions meet the need for
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plenty of natural light,” says Steere. “They
also allow a transparency through the
house, so even though the two living areas
are separate, there is a visual connection.”
To address the need for privacy from
the street, the architects layered the front
facade with a series of operable screens.
Aluminium louvres feature on the upper
level, and the visual sense of layering is
reinforced by a vertical pod element in
dark zinc that pierces the roof to create an
enclosed roof services deck.
Another screen, which incorporates a