Kowhai Studio is a response to one of the effects of the pandemic and the resulting need for more flexible live-work options in the city’s fringe suburbs.
The need was for a flexible space to be used as a home office and an overflow sleeping studio for guests. By relegating the car to an external hard-stand and up-cycling the existing bungalow-styled double garage into a studio space with kitchenette, bathroom, and storage areas, the clients have achieved an enviable and unique home / work lifestyle.
The main studio has built-in desking and cabinetry for efficient space use and a fold-down desk and bed, allowing the space to be converted from work room to bedroom in two simple moves.
The exterior of the building was required by planning rules to mimic the original bungalow with the weatherboards, roofing, and timber joinery all sympathetic to houses in the surrounding streetscape. New windows with coloured glazing are a subtle, modern, reference to traditional bungalow or villa veranda windows, and along with the clear glazing, fills this studio with light.
Internally, the concrete floor has been polished and the walls re-lined with white-washed grooved panelling. The original garage roof trusses remain partially exposed with over-laid painted timber battens to emphasise the volume of the space. Birch plywood ceiling linings and cabinetry provide a hint of timber warmth to the interior.
The change in priorities forced by the pandemic has become an accepted normal that will continue long after the pandemic has passed. This simple building conversion is a creative way of adapting and re-thinking the way we live and work.
Photo Credit - Ross Keane
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Strachan Group Architects is a multiple award-winning Auckland practice. Grounded in a specific and detailed first-hand knowledge of construction the team brings a highly developed sense of craft to the task of creating sustainable buildings with precision and elegance.
The keen sense of attention that the practice brings to the interpretation of a client’s brief is equalled by a rich and complex understanding of how to respond to the subtleties of site, the impacts of the natural environment, and the many contexts within which a building must operate. To these qualities SGA adds a precise understanding of the requirements of construction, with an advanced level of experience of prefabrication and the use of digitally controlled machinery in the fabrication of building elements under tightly controlled conditions.
SGA takes pride in it's ability to communicate ideas about building as they develop in conversation with clients, consultants and contractors. This skill has been honed in the extensive involvement the practice has had in education, where it has delivered a number of design/build projects with architecture students that have been recognised by the New Zealand Institute of Architects by a series of Awards.
Recognised by their peers as an innovative and exciting practice, SGA consists of a group of highly skilled people with a diverse range of complimentary skills. This flexible team is highly attuned to new developments in the building industry, appreciated by their many clients and capable of undertaking work at any scale.
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