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Accent On Outdoor Living

Pataua Development in Whangarei, located on a large rural site. The clients, who are based overseas, requested that we create a master plan for a large rural site in the Pataua Development, Whangarei. A vision that could be brought to life in stages. The site consists of two key developments. At...

Heavy Metal

Heavy Metal

I understand this is the name of a type of modern music. This article is not about music, but about stuff you don’t want in your body, and specifically that you don’t want in the paint on your roof or walls.

Unfortunately the definition of “heavy metal” is somewhat loose. Wikipedia...

New Benchmark For RSA Clubs

While some traditional sports and RSA clubs are facing difficult times maintaining membership and commercial viability, Swanson RSA is bucking the trend big time.

Having undergone an extensive makeover, which involved demolishing and rebuilding 70% of the existing building, one of Swanson...

Modern Comforts Simplified

By Graham Hepburn.

It’s not always easy to make a virtue out of necessity but architect Graham Pitts has achieved that with the striking steel portal frame home that he designed at Puawai Bay for Marlene and Robin Welch.

With a narrow, sloping site to contend with and a...

Cable Bay

By Graham Hepburn

Being a Waiheke Island resident, architectural designer Bryce Ardern is well aware of the constraints and challenges of building on the island. Bryce, whose design firm Ardern UDB is based on the island, says building more sustainable homes is not just desirable on...

Goodman Warehouse Otahuhu

By Graham Hepburn

As part of its ongoing development programme at Savill Link industrial estate, Goodman has completed a new 23,000sq m warehouse, on a designbuild basis, for Super Retail Group. Savill Link is on land formerly occupied by the Otahuhu Railwork Workshops and Goodman, the...

U Shape Gives Home X Factor

U shape gives home X factor

In real estate speak, this 3-bedroom Nelson home ticks all the boxes. And yes, it has an X-factor too. Which is hardly surprising given that the owners have extensive real estate and property development experience.

But unlike the many...

Smarter Small Home

Based on modular construction, this Smarter Small Home (SSH) designed by the team at Creative Arch was the first of 8 designs to be built by Latitude Homes in Auckland.

These designs were the winning entry from the 2011 James Hardie Smarter Small Home competition.

The SSH was born of...

A Winning Combination

Unfortunately Doug and Gill Price’s Halswell property was one of the many that had been seriously effected by the September 2010 and February 2011 Christchurch earthquakes, and they had to call upon their Insurance Company to remedy the damage.

The list of rectification work included...

Exploring Sustainable Design

By Graham Hepburn

75 per cent of the existing wall framing and subfloor was retained in keeping with the principle of re-using.

As the owner of a family construction business, Andrew Pepper has become keen on exploring sustainable design and materials.

He sees those...

Recreating A Community Icon

In early 2010 a fire at the Raglan Wharf and adjacent building all but destroyed a much loved community facility. Following strong community sentiment, the Waikato District Council committed not only to reinstate the whole facility but to enhance its functionality and upgrade the wharf structure...

Rainbows End In Auckland

ColorCote® Steel roofing is often a practical choice but Rainbow’s End wanted to add a fun dimension when it came to providing cover for its Kidz Kingdom precinct.

With that in mind, the Manukau-based theme park wanted a curved, multicoloured canopy that would not only keep the area...

Timbercore

The brief for the Enterprise Precinct and Innovation Campus (EPIC) project specified - “In considering what is ‘best’, EPIC, amongst other things, designers should take into account the build cost efficiencies, an inspirational and innovative design, efficient use of land, room for growth, and...

Emerging Technologies

Emerging Technologies

Emerging technologies for use with steel roof and wall cladding : Solar

New Zealand has long been a home for the use of “alternative” energy generating technologies, both because of the scattered nature of settlement and the Kiwi DIY attitude. Photovoltaic electricity has...

Working With Contrasts Textures And Light

The client’s brief was to create a multi-levelled home which included the use of bleached cedar, exposed masonry and modernist cube forms.

The home was to accommodate 3 bedrooms, providing privacy an ensuite and generous storage options for the master bedroom. An open plan kitchen/dinning...

Grand Designs House

Star Quality Shines On TV. Partners Daniel Leipnik and Andrew Preston always imagined their dream home would be great for entertaining. But over two
million people? Who would have thought…? Their Asian inspired tree top home at Trinity Beach in north Queensland was featured recently on...

Falcon: Life At Home Parade

FALCON: LIFE AT HOME PARADE

The Falcon Homes ShowHome is one of eight Show Homes in the Life at Home parade of Show Homes at Karaka Harbourside in Auckland.

The concept behind the Life at Home parade of ShowHomes is to create a platform from which quality Master Builders can...

Silver Fern Farms

Two years after Silver Fern Farms’ Te Aroha beef processing operation was destroyed by fire in December 2010, a state of the art facility is up and running in its place.

Silver Fern Farms’ new Te Aroha plant is a hot boned beef processing operation designed for best practice processing of...

Family Planning For Extended Family

How do you go about designing a home that can cope with sleep overs for ten grandchildren from two to sixteen – plus their parents – and still enjoy your own space with peace and privacy?

Retired farmers John and Beverly Lundy think they’ve got it just about right. Their brief for their...

Move To Modular Building Systems

The face of building is gradually evolving in New Zealand, with one notable shift being a move to modular buildings constructed with cold formed steel.

With the development of software technology that incorporates both architectural and engineering design, larger scale commercial...

Purotu Beach

Purotu Bach (Purotu - Maori means "Beautiful") dreamers nest at Bay of Many Coves Marlborough Sounds

Architect Davor Mikulcic admits he sometimes feels conflicted when asked to design a home that is going to sit in an area of natural beauty such as the Marlborough Sounds....

French Bay Yacht Club

One of west Auckland’s iconic buildings, the French Bay Yacht Club’s clubhouse is also a testament to community spirit.

The modernist-style building hugging the shoreline of the Manukau Harbour is part of the scenery for those who drive down the hill from Titirangi but it took a huge...

Hobsonville Point Primary School

The release of government owned land near the Hobsonville Airbase in Auckland’s North- West, has allowed for the development of Hobsonville Point as one of Auckland’s newest satellite communities.

Numerous projects have been approved and are in the process of being constructed, including...

Making A Mark

When it comes to building showhomes, Landmark Counties has taken a somewhat novel approach compared to other group home builders. Instead of building a showhome using one of their range of standard plans, in this instance, they started from scratch and created this striking one-off designer home...

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