Outtakes - Godward Guthrie in Omaha

The home on the cover of our December/January issue by Julian Guthrie of Godward Guthrie Architects is an exercise in blurring boundaries between inside and out. While the whole idea of 'indoor outdoor' flow has become a titanic cliche, this is a house that makes it still seem like a noble aim. An array of screens, doors and glass panels can be configured to make the house feel connected to the beach no matter what the weather. Here's a view of the house from the beach, with the main living area on the upper floor. All the photographs are by Patrick Reynolds.


The home's living area opens onto terraces on its northern and western sides. An exterior staircase behind the screen in the picture above leads from the living area down to the lawn.

This view (below) from the street shows how the doors of the hallway can be opened onto the pool area (the hallway is also a very effective collector of solar heat in winter). At left on the upper floor is the terrace, which can be sheltered from the wind with moveable glass screens.

Below is a view from the sheltered pool area towards the beach. The rumpus room downstairs can be fully opened up to the weather, or closed down behind glass doors and cedar screens. In this photograph, it reads as a totally outdoor space.

Our new cover

The cover of our December/January 2011 issue, which will be on newsstands on November 22, features of a photograph by Patrick Reynolds of a house by Julian Guthrie at Omaha, north of Auckland. This is our annual issue featuring coastal homes, so we wanted a cover that shouted 'summer!'. Hopefully this does the trick. Thanks to Julian for letting us know about this excellent house, for the Couillault family for being so helpful with our shoot, and of course to Patrick for the great shot.

The '80s weren't so bad

We don't often get the opportunity to fly the flag for the 1980s, but in our latest issue we were pleased to. As many of you already know, the theme of this issue is 'Before & After'. The interesting thing about the renovation Julian Guthrie (of Godward Guthrie Architects) designed for this house on Auckland's Takapuna Beach was that in some ways, the original house didn't need too much altering. That was partly because it was designed in hte late 1980s by good architects in the first place: the Auckland firm of Mark-Brown, Fairhead, Sang and Carnachan. And it is partly because Julian's changes were so astute.

One of Julian's main interventions (apart from updating the kitchen and bathrooms) was the relocation of the stairway that connects the home's upper and lower levels. Here's what the hallway used to look like before the stairs were moved (the sloping site means you enter the home on the upper level, while the lower level connects with the garden and the path to the beach):

And below is one of Patrick Reynolds' photographs of it afterwards. Julian says moving the position of the stairs made the connection between the home's upper and lower levels much clearer, and also made it feel much easier to move between the two.

The transformation is particularly evident when viewed from the home's lower level. Here's the 'before' shot:

And here's the 'after'. Much better!