A new home built at the Gibbs Farm open-air sculpture park on the Kaipara Harbour north of Auckland featured in the latest of a popular six-part architectural series about residences in this country last night.
Swallow Point House, designed by Noel Lane Architects in association with Rowe Baetens Architecture, was on New Zealand’s Best Homes with Phil Spencer.
The series made by Perpetual Entertainment screens at 7.30pm on Sunday nights and is on TVNZ On Demand.
Lane is the son-in-law of multimillionaire businessman Alan Gibbs who established the sculpture farm and who in 1990 was involved in the privatisation of Telecom Corporation.
The new house won a Te Kāhui Whaihanga NZ Institute of Architects Award last year.
Lane hosted British TV presenter Phil Spencer, showing how the low-key home overlooking the harbour was a secondary residence for his family with three sons, based around the concept of a family tent.
The home sits above the harbour within the sculpture park, beneath an 85m-long red horn-like sculpture on a hill above.That sculpture is called Dismemberment, Site 1 by Anish Kapoor.
Additional living/shared spaces including a library/music room and spaces for intensified use over holiday times are in those ‘tent’ structures.
“The brief included immersion in the natural environment, maximising the experience of living alongside the harbour - its tidal rhythms, storms, sun, light, wind and rain,” said a citation from the architects.
To minimise its physical presence, and to create separation and privacy between the tents or accommodation units, the house has been designed as a series of low-profile structures.
The architects said that allowed the roof form to be broken down into seven individual structures and to create a fifth elevation that was well modulated and scaled when seen from the approach road above.
Noel Lane is one of New Zealand’s most awarded architects, with projects including 2007 work on the grand atrium at Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum as well as designing the village centre at Matakana.
The design of Lane’s new home gave distance, privacy and acoustic separation within the plan, according to the architects’ description.
The entry court is adjacent to the hill, with the plan arranged from southwest to northeast to give each key interior space a harbour view. Lane also told Spencer how those alignments allowed shelter.
“Rooms wrap around the edge of the hill platform from the main bedroom and offices to the southwest, to main living spaces on the northern corner, to the three-bedroom suites stepped along the northeast edge. Outdoor spaces and courtyards provide shelter according to wind direction. Spaces are detailed so they feel part of the environment, not simply a window on it,” the description said.
Circulation paths between huts are treated as active space, using lower ceilings and narrow timber boards to bring down scale and codify the transition space. Accessed via these sheltered walkways, the bedrooms in each structure become very discrete. Entries are concealed to heighten the feeling of seclusion within the plan.
The location of the building platform offered proximity to the sea and intimacy with the landscape. The small promontory provided sweeping views of the harbour, but its exposed position and steep contours required significant investment in land stabilisation before building could proceed.
Tom Rowe of Rowe Baetens said today: “It was a real privilege to work in association with Noel Lane Architects on this project.” Rowe worked for Noel Lane Architects before founding his own practice.
Rowe’s practice has another project that also features in the TV series.
That is the Japanese-inspired Volcano House in Cheltenham, Devonport which won a 2018 NZIA award and is beneath Maungauika North Head.
That house was designed by Rowe Baetens.
“The plan is introspective, with living areas centred around a courtyard opening to sub-courtyards. Rooms are grouped according to their function; these groups are conceived as collection of boulders as if cast from the nearby volcano and defining the boundary of the building. Glass spans between these elements to enclose the main living space and create circulation,” the description said.
Rowe said the use of swamp kauri from Te Tai Tokerau and stone from Wapouri Mt Horrible in South Canterbury would be emphasised in the upcoming episode.
The television series is planned to air in Britain and Australia soon where Rowe said it would showcase our best homes to those countries.
“There is a really positive angle around innovation beyond number 8 wire, leveraging our innovative reputation in the pursuit of creating remarkable homes,” Rowe said.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
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