House on a Rock
Set on a hill with panoramic ocean views, this family home is comprised of three curved pods that create enclosures for bedrooms, bathrooms and garage spaces, with a large, open living space between. A floating deck wraps around the house, integrating it with an exposed rocky outcrop, and is sheltered by a hovering roof. Recycled brick linings intensify the sense of enclosure in the bedroom pods, while fully glazed walls create an expansive sense of openness of the living area. The generous curves of the building shelter outdoor living areas from prevailing winds.
The brief required us to develop a design that reflected the connection to the surrounding landscape from the sea to the port hills; to sit within the landscape and respond to and utilise the existing volcanic rock formations. This family wanted a home where they were able to easily come together both internally and externally, to maximise the light and view lines to the Southern Ocean, and importantly contour to provide connected areas of shelter.
This project won multiple awards for a design that responds to and acknowledges it's clear relationship and connection to the surrounding context. The built form interacts with and responds to the ever shifting environmental identities of the site.
As a family we had developed a strong connection to the surrounding landscape from the sea to the hills. The brief was to develop a design that reflected that connection to the surrounding context and by doing so produce a new home that sat easily within the landscape.
Indigenous plant species such as Banks Peninsula Hebe inhabit rock crevices along with rare ferns. The more exposed hillsides are covered with silver tussock and other native grasses, unusually so for an area so close to urban development.
Innovation & collaboration
A key ingredient of the Innovation and creativity for this project was based around people and their passion. From brickwork, carpentry, internal joinery to the person driving the digger exposing the rock formations we looked for people that shared a love of their craft and that were passionate about what they do. This type of collaboration brought lots of different perspectives together that helped drive the design throughout the entire build process.
Constraints and Opportunities
The sites natural setting provided both constraints and opportunities that directly drove the design brief and final outcome. The strong view lines to the Southern Ocean and Port hills needed to be carefully integrated. The extend of the volcanic rock seam running through the site was an unknown and something that needed to be dealt with once excavations started. This was one of the site constraints that we altered the design around to take advantage of the opportunity it provided.
Set on a hill with panoramic ocean views, this family home is comprised of three curved pods that create enclosures for bedrooms, bathrooms and garage spaces, with a large, open living space between. A floating deck wraps around the house, integrating it with an exposed rocky outcrop, and is sheltered by a hovering roof. Recycled brick linings intensify the sense of enclosure in the bedroom pods, while fully glazed walls create an expansive sense of openness of the living area. The generous curves of the building shelter outdoor living areas from prevailing winds.
Professionals used in House on a Rock
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Born in 2015, in response to our own need to create a home that felt more aligned with the way we wanted to live. A home that could offer a retreat from the noise and stress of the outside world. One that would feel authentic, and unique to our family, where natural, sustainable materials were celebrated and the work of human hands acknowledged.
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