Outtakes: Pahoia house by Warren and Mahoney

Our April/May issue Home of the Year issue featured this finalist in the award, a magnificent home near Tauranga designed by Andrew Barclay and Richard McGowan of Warren & Mahoney.The home is a linear ground-floor arrangement of bedrooms and living areas, with a black main bedroom suite and study on the black upper floor, which is placed transversely to the main volume of the house. In the shot below (all the photographs are by Patrick Reynolds), you can see the house on its beautiful peninsula site.

The home's owners asked Andrew and Richard for a home with sculptural lines, a sense of restfulness, and a focus on quality and permanence. The house was to be "simple and strong and bold" for a life of "reading, privacy and quietness." The two shots below show more clearly the relationship of the upper and lower volumes of the home, with the upper floor projecting over and providing shade for a lower-level terrace.

All the home's main spaces face north, including the outdoor room (shown below), which features a reflecting pool with a large sculpture by Paul Dibble. It's the beautiful outcome of the owners' desire to emulate the European concept of entering a courtyard before moving into the house proper. It's also a way of encouraging sheltered outdoor living by dissolving the barriers between indoors and out. Visitors pass under the bridge-like form of the home's upper floor before walking through the front door, which opens directly into the outdoor room.

The outdoor room is anchored, like the rest of the house, by a wall of travertine that acts as the building's spine (below).

The view below looks back from the outdoor room to the home's main entrance, featuring another sculpture by Paul Dibble across the driveway. 

The owners wanted the home to feel equally comfortable when their six children were around or when just the two of them were home. The main living area, entered from the outdoor room, is an intimate open-plan sequence of sunny sitting area, a kitchen and dining space and a compact formal sitting room with a fireplace.

When the (mostly adult) children are visiting, they have the home's west wing, with three bedrooms and a small living room. At the eastern end of the ground floor is a separate guest suite featuring this elegant ensuite bathroom.

Upstairs, a dark-painted library located behind the main bedroom makes for a comfortable winter evening retreat.

The view below is from the guest suite on the ground floor, a lovely perspective looking north over the estuary. Thanks again to our Home of the Year partner, Altherm Window Systems, for working with us to present these fantastic homes.

Outtakes: Home of the Year 2012

Every magazine shoot yields far more images than we can ever fit in our pages - so we like to take the opportunity to show you a few of our favourite outtakes here on the blog. This time, it's our Home of the Year 2012 by Herbst Architects, that marvellous structure amid a pohutukawa grove at Piha. The photographs are by Patrick Reynolds - and once again, a big thank you to our Home of the Year partners Altherm Window Systems for their support of the award. Thanks also to our intern, Jett Nichol, who's here for a week from Napier learning a bit about the magazine trade (as well as compiling these albums).

The image below shows the steps from the house out to the back deck, which catches the morning sun in summer. This opening also establishes a strong diagonal connection across the living space, as well as allowing cooling cross-breezes in summer.

In each bedroom, the walls have been lined in poplar ply, its light colour establishing a calm mood. This shot shows the main bedroom, which is entered via a mezzanine walkway above the living space.

The branch-like roof struts reinforce the relationship between the man-made structure and its natural surroundings, blurring the boundaries between the building and the tree canopy.

Inside, the tall timber wall (its cedar patterns mimicking the pattern of the bark outside) makes the living area undeniably cosy, despite the openness of space.

This view of the home shows the boardwalk drive platform leading to the carefully concealed single garage (which is under the main bedroom). The house was designed on piles positioned to avoid the pohutukawa roots on the site.

                                                                              

On film: last year's Home of the Year

For those of you who didn't see this the first time around, here's the short film we made to accompany the announcement of the Home of the Year 2011, a holiday home at Kare Kare Beach by Michael O'Sullivan of Bull O'Sullivan Architects. Yes, it's also on the west coast near Auckland, but you'll see this is a very different home to our 2012 winner. Where the home by Herbst Architects is, in parts, light and ethereal, this one has a low, compact solidity, a stealth-bomber sort of gruntiness.

And the winner is...

We're delighted to announce that the winner of the Home of the Year 2012 is 'Under Pohutukawa,' a holiday home at Piha by Lance and Nicola Herbst of Herbst Architects. You can see images of this amazing home and the four incredible finalists in the award in our new issue, which will be on newsstands on Monday April 2.

The cover shot was taken by Patrick Reynolds, as was the image of the home below. We've also made a short web film of the home which we'll be uploading soon. Thanks again to our Home of the Year partner, Altherm Window Systems, for their ongoing support of the award.

Our five 2012 Home of the Year finalists

All the shoots of the finalists in our 2012 Home of the Year are now in and being laid out, so we wanted to share these sneak peeks of our five finalists in the award with you. You'll be able to see all five homes in our lavish Home of the Year 2012 issue, on newsstands April 2.

So, in no particular order: this little bach is by Ken Crosson of Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects, and is on Whangapoua Beach on the Coromandel Peninsula. The photo is by Jackie Meiring.

Another bach on the Coromandel Peninsula, this one at Onemana, a low-budget beauty designed and built by Dave Strachan of SGA Architects and Dave's students at the Unitec School of Architecture. If we were architecture students, we'd be stoked to have our first-ever creation named as a Home of the Year finalist. The photo is by Simon Devitt.

This home by Warren & Mahoney is on a beautiful peninsula just north of Tauranga. The photo is by Patrick Reynolds.

This home in an abundant garden near Wellington is by Alistair Luke, of Jasmax. The photo is by Paul McCredie.

Last but not least, this home at Piha is by Herbst Architects. The photo is by Patrick Reynolds.



Home of the Year hall of fame

As we hurtle towards sending our Home of the Year 2012 issue to press, we thought it was a good time to review the previous winners of the award, which is now in its 17th year. So here they are - we'd like to live in all of them.

(This year's Home of the Year winner will be revealed in our new issue, on newsstands April 2. Thanks again to our Home of the Year partner, Altherm Window Systems, for their ongoing support of the award.)

First, our 1996 winner: in Auckland, by Patrick Clifford and his colleagues at Architectus. Photograph by Patrick Reynolds.

Our 1997 winner, also in Auckland, was designed by Felicity Wallace. Photograph by Patrick Reynolds.

This house in the Bay of Islands by Pete Bossley won Home of the Year in 1998. Photograph by Patrick Reynolds.

Back in Auckland, architect Gerrad Hall's own home won the award in 1999. Photograph by Patrick Reynolds.

Fearon Hay Architects took the prize for this Bay of Islands holiday home in 2000. Photograph by Patrick Reynolds.

Architect Gerald Parsonson's own family bach on the Kapiti Coast was our 2001 winner. Photograph by Paul McCredie.

Stevens Lawson Architects won the first of their three Home of the Year titles for this Auckland home in 2002. Photograph by Patrick Reynolds.

Architect Ken Crosson's bach on the Coromandel Peninsula won the Home of the Year 2003 award, as well as the Home of the Decade prize (held to mark 10 years of the Home of the Year award) in 2005. Photograph by Patrick Reynolds.

The Home of the Year 2004 was this Bay of Islands holiday home by Pete Bossley. Photograph by Patrick Reynolds.

This house in the King Country by Mitchell & Stout was named Home of the Year 2005.  Photograph by Patrick Reynolds.

The Home of the Year 2006 in Day's Bay, Wellington, was designed by Hugh Tennent. Photograph by Paul McCredie.

This Auckland house by Stevens Lawson Architects was our 2007 Home of the Year. Photograph by Mark Smith.

The 'Signal Box' in Masterton, designed by Melling Morse Architects, was our 2008 winner. Photograph by Paul McCredie.

Mitchell and Stout Architects' Waiheke house was the 2009 Home of the Year. Photograph by Patrick Reynolds.

Our only South Island winner to date, the 2010 Home of the Year is near Wanaka and was designed by Stevens Lawson Architects. Photograph by Mark Smith.

 

Last year's Home of the Year was the Kare Kare house, designed by Michael O'Sullivan of Bull O'Sullivan Architects.

And the finalists are...

Brian MacKay-Lyons and his wife Marilyn are on the plane back to Canada, and the Home of the Year judges have made their decisions. So, we're very pleased to annouce the finalists in our Home of the Year award 2012.

The winner will be announced at a cocktail function in Auckland on March 29, and the results published in our April/May issue, which is on sale from April 2.

In the meantime, we're busy getting our five very exciting finalists photographed to feature in our Home of the Year issue. (For those of you who can't wait, you can see amateur pics from our judging trip on our Facebook page or Twitter feed - just click on the Twitter box on the right-hand side of this page).

Anyway, the five finalists in the award (in no particular order) are:

• A home near Wellington by Jasmax
• A home at Pahoia, near Tauranga, by Warren & Mahoney
• A holiday home at Piha by Herbst Architects
• A bach at Onemana on the Coromandel Peninsula by Strachan Group Architects in conjunction with Unitec students
• A bach at Whangapoua on the Coromandel Peninsula by Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects.

We're really looking forward to publishing our Home of the Year issue and showing you how good these five homes are. Thanks to our Home of the Year partner Altherm Window Systems for making this all possible.

He's here! Still time for tickets...

The international member of our Home of the Year jury, Canadian architect Brian MacKay-Lyons, has just arrived in the country to help choose the winner of the Home of the Year award (the award results will be published in our April/May 2012 issue).
Now this you'll have to see: Brian will be giving public talks at the University of Auckland on Wednesday evening this week and at Victoria University of Wellington on Thursday evening. Tickets are still available at the link here. (You can pick your tickets up at the venues).

Brian is a leading proponent of regionalist architecture - many of his projects line Nova Scotia's rocky shores. He's also a sheep farmer and sea kayaker. His talks promise to be fascinating (Architects get 10 CPD points for attending.) You can view more of his terrific work here. Thanks to our Home of the Year partner Altherm Window Systems for making Brian's visit possible. We hope to see you on Wednesday or Thursday.

Brian MacKay-Lyons - almost here

It's just over a week until the international member of our Home of the Year jury, Canadian architect Brian MacKay-Lyons, arrives in New Zealand to give talks about his remarkable work in Auckland (on February 8) and Wellington (on February 9). Tickets are on sale at Ticketek at the link here.

Brian is a leading proponent of regionalist architecture (the project shown above is in Nova Scotia and was photographed by Greg Richardson), as well as being a sheep farmer and sea kayaker, so his talks promise to be fascinating. Architects get 10 CPD points for attending. Thanks to our Home of the Year partner Altherm Window Systems for making Brian's visit possible. We look forward to seeing you at these special events.

Brian MacKay-Lyons: Tickets on sale now!

The international member of our Home of the Year jury, Canadian architect Brian MacKay-Lyons, will visit New Zealand in February to help choose the winner of the Home of the Year award (the award results will be published in our April/May 2012 issue).

He'll be giving talks in Auckland (on February 8) and Wellington (on February 9) when he's here, and tickets are now on sale at the link here. Brian is a leading proponent of regionalist architecture, as well as being a sheep farmer and sea kayaker, so his talks promise to be fascinating (Architects get 10 CPD points for attending.) Thanks to our Home of the Year partner Altherm Window Systems for making Brian's visit possible.

That's Brian below, and a shot of one of his buildings by Greg Richardson. For more information about Brian and his work, you can visit his website here.

Events: The Department Store

Thanks to Altherm Window Systems, Waipara Hills wines and The Department Store for their support for a client function we held at The Department Store in Takapuna last night.

Our guests got to use their Department Store vouchers from their gift bags (which also contained The Department Store newspaper and a copy of the new issue of HOME) to shop a little before our conversation about design with architects Patrick Clifford of Architectus, Michael O'Sullivan of Bull O'Sullivan Architects and Richard Naish of RTA Studio.

We even had a celebrity guest (thanks for coming, Tim Finn!).

Outtakes: The Kare Kare house, our Home of the Year 2011 by Michael O'Sullivan

From the black sand of Kare Kare beach, the HOME New Zealand magazine Home of the Year 2011 is almost invisible. The house was designed by Michael O'Sullivan of Bull O'Sullivan Architects for Bob and Barbara Harvey. It's a pleasure for us to be able to show you some outtakes from Patrick Reynolds' beautiful shoot of the house here. In the shot below, you can just see the house nestled among the trees in the lower right-hand corner of the frame.

Inside, the house faces south towards the beach, but draws light in from a sheltered north-facing courtyard and from glass panels on the roof. The weatherboard ceiling appears to fragment and fall away as it nears the home's southern wall, giving way to the glass panels overhead. 

The ceiling tilts towards a band of windows that frame the view towards the beach into a horiztonal slot. Holes for lightbulb recesses are punched into the ceiling.

Outside in the courtyard, the ceiling plane appears to erode again to admit as much sunlight as possible into the space.

The main bedroom (the 129-square-metre house has two bedrooms in total) features orange carpet and windows wrapping the ceiling and wall at the northern end of the room. The door at left leads to the courtyard.

This view from outside the house is about all that can be seen of it from the road. It shows the main bedroom volume (clad in black bituminous roofing membrane) cantilevered over the carport.  



We'll post more outtakes of the finalists in the 2011 Home of the Year here on the blog in the coming days. Thanks again to our Home of the Year partner Altherm Window Systems for their ongoing support of New Zealand's richest architectural prize.