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I'm Oli Booth of Oli Booth Architecture and I'm the lead designer in this project. The project is
located in central Auckland. It's a typical urban setting that's experiencing more intensification
and this is an example of infill housing on the back of someone's backyard essentially.
The surrounding context is typically bungalows and villas. The project here we decided to react
to this and rather than occupying the centre of the site, we decided to push the build forms to
the outer perimeter. This allowed us to make the most of a small 280 square meter site
and establish a central courtyard garden in the middle. Part of the challenge was,
could we create a sense of refuge in the middle of the city? The garden and landscape provides
an important role in blending this home into its wider context and environment.
The scale of the project was influenced by the budget so we managed this by keeping the footprint
of the house to a considered an efficient size. The feeling of retreat and seclusion was really
important to us both and it was how could we manage this in a very urban environment.
So the initial moves for the house was to install
these large precast fluted concrete walls and what they did was put our backs to
the sun but provided us this intimacy and privacy from the wider context around us.
We spent a lot of time and experimentation with the external flutes which provide
the sort of verticality and sculpted interplay across the front elevations.
The use of fabric rolls was our initial design driver, so we tested that many, many times and
in the end came to a result whereby we had this quite consistent rhythm and verticality
but then when released from that, we have this fractured edge and as the light hits
and interacts with the panel throughout the day we get this lovely inconsistency.
We've tried to keep the houses clean and refined but some of the happy accidents that have happened
along the way were sort of the bullet holes that are a result of the structural integration of
the two concrete panels for the upper and lower floors and there's sort of a timely
reminder of methodologies and construction and it just provides a lovely softness.
Light and shadow has sort of been the central focus of
this design and it provides a constant changing palette throughout the day.
The installation of a light scoop in the ceiling is a 4.2 meter long slot and it really captures
the arc of the sun throughout the day. We wanted to see how we could introduce light
in its smallest form but maximise that, so the flare was introduced to allow sunlight
as it rakes throughout the day to penetrate deeper into the spaces and reflect off the tiled surface.
A small light scoop was installed at the front door
as our entrance matt and this allowed us to draw light through into the lower levels
and it's a lovely sense of intrigue whether people decide to jump that or walk over it.
The house is cut into the landscape, so from the approach the house appears as a single level.
It was an intentional move but it also allows us to create separation of spaces where the upper
focuses on the sort of expansive wider context and then the lower a more intimate setting in
the native trees. Making your way downstairs the staircase hugs the internal corner of the home
and as you descend below, the temperature changes as the thermal moderation of the concrete panels
provides this consistency throughout the day and also throughout the seasons; it's a really
lovely balance between the warmth above and also the bedroom spaces below. In the early morning,
light filters into the lower level bedrooms, which is a really lovely dappled light. It forms
a lovely interplay against the warm linings and then also the wider environment outside.
The implementation of thick walls allowed us to start to occupy both sides of these spaces,
so in bedrooms it became bookshelves and curtain recesses whereas in the bathroom
we could create nooks for things like towel rails to help create a greater sense of space.
I guess operability was an important aspect in terms of entertaining
so the house needed to react to not only the conditions and weather but also the amount of
people that are using the space. The corner of the building opens and is cantilevered
to provide the feeling of an outdoor room. The existing vegetation on site formed a natural
buffer and starting point for the house. In order to cite it correctly we had to then cut down
to a lower level to create our downstairs bedroom spaces
but it then allowed the upper floor and living to sort of sit within the canopies of the trees.
As intensity becomes more important in our urban environments, we tried with this house to sort of
show how small can still be beautiful and expansive and generous.
So we wanted to intentionally keep that considered in every way in form. You don't necessarily need
to have these large sites to create these feelings and by considered layouts in terms of where you
cite these on your site gives you opportunities to create more generous outdoor spaces and live
in environments which you might not normally get with typical villas and bungalows in the area.
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