New Zealand has a wealth of well-designed homes and Herald Homes has always been about showcasing the best places to live. But what separates a good house from a great house?
Some houses only photograph well at a certain time of day, when the sun is out or tide is in. What I've found is that well-designed houses present well regardless of weather and available light; you can turn up at pretty much any time of day and get a good shot. That's partly because the architect has thought about how the house sits in and responds to its location.
I love homes where the owners and architects have let their imaginations run riot.
I once shot a house in Judge's Bay that had hidden glass panels in the walls high up towards the ceiling. When it rained, water would collect in pools on the roof and the sunlight bouncing off them produced a magical dapple effect on the ceiling. That effect was by design, and although you could say it was an expensive folly, it was just awesome.
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I'm drawn to both quirkiness and simplicity. Most houses are just cubes with a corridor, so anything that intentionally deviates from that, I respond to. There's a difference between a stylish home and a home that's filled with stylish objects. I feel less comfortable in places where the decor rather than the house itself does the talking.
The Auckland homes presented below are strong examples of this. It's the architecture, not paintings on the wall or the furniture, that draws the eye and reveals the houses as good places to live.
44c St Georges Bay Rd, Parnell
44c St Georges Bay Rd is a home that the architect had built to live in themselves. The use of glass walls amplified the surrounding woodland - which made it seem as if the house was in the middle of a forest, not the centre of a busy city.
44 and 46 Bush Road, Waiatarua
44 and 46 Bush Road was a human house. The people who lived here built it themselves and built it for living in, using natural materials that not only complimented the environment but reflected their character. They were welcoming and their home was too.
27 Buttle Street, Remuera
27 Buttle Street was designed by celebrated architect Ian Burrows, and is filled with quirky features but the house itself remains cohesive, with no one element dominating.
16B Burleigh Street, Grafton
16B Burleigh Street was new but used recovered materials, which gave it a sense of age and added to its character. There's another slight of hand going on in the home too. Glowing light in the concrete stairwell is from perspex rods which were installed in the boltholes from the concrete boxing.
