Trends New Zealand Trends Volume 31 No 4 New Zealand | Page 122

First floor

Ground floor

Legend: 1 entry, 2 dining room,
3 kitchen, 4 pools, 5 bedrooms,
6 master suite, 7 family room,
8 media room, 9 living room,
10 terrace.
Above right and facing page: The
living pavilion resembles a floating
platform. Glass walls open up the
space and provide cross ventilation
for the cooling breezes off the water,
ensuring the owner rarely needs to
use air conditioning.

Further visual interest is
provided by contrasting textural elements. A blade wall
of slate crosses the front of
the house, intersecting with a
white plastered beam.
“We like to use textures to
illustrate the different forms of
a building,” the designer says.
“Here the rough-plastered
white surface defines the edge
of the pool above.”
The front door is a simple

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timber-framed cutout in the
slate wall. This exposes a view
of the large sculptural spiral
staircase leading up to the
pavilion.
“Creating a hierarchy in
the journey through a house
is important,” says Chee.
“It should be instantly clear
where you are expected to go
when you enter through the
front door. The spiral staircase
immediately draws the eye.

In contrast, a wall across the
back of the entry screens the
private areas from view.”
The ground floor of the
house comprises two long
rectangular forms. The wider
volume, which is just one room
deep, accommodates the entry
with dining table, bedrooms
and a family living room at
the far end. The narrower
form houses the service rooms
hidden behind the long wall.