Twin Gables by Gary Todd Architecture

Twin Gables

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The client sought a single level family home that maximised views from a steep elevated site and incorporated several outdoor spaces for different times of the day during their retirement. They were from a farming and building background so were interested in referencing traditional gabled barns with an interpretive modern styling for the exterior and interior image and layout. Creative Solution & Design Features The house is conceptualised as long offset gabled building forms with outdoor living decks located for East morning sun, North midday sun and West evening sun. The house is located at the rear of the site orientated as high as possible to take full advantage of an elevated and commanding view of the Mosgiel Township, Taieri Plains and Maungatua Range whilst maximising the best daylight and solar gain. Upward views from the road entry and neighbours below provide privacy to indoor and outdoor living spaces. Extensive landscaping with terracing nestles the building into the hillside while emphasising the strong linear gabled forms and floating effect of the house cantilevered floors and decks. The East gabled form incorporates garage, foyer, guest bedrooms, bathroom, laundry and access to open service court and vegetable garden. A second East gabled form includes pantry, kitchen and lounge connected to main living space of West gabled form. The west gabled form incorporates main entry, hallway, guest bedroom, main bedroom, dressing room, and ensuite. The house has a natural material and colour palette of stained cedar wall cladding, Iron Sand euro tray roofing and steelwork, schist stone walls and exposed aggregate concrete paving and driveway. Polished concrete floor with timber inlays and soft tonal paint combinations for walls and ceilings provide light, spacious interiors that defer to capture outstanding views. The outcome is a home that references traditional barn forms, materials and colours whilst offering modern day indoor and outdoor living spaces to the enjoyment of the owners and visitors.

The client sought a single level family home that maximised views from a steep elevated site and incorporated several outdoor spaces for different times of the day during their retirement. Read more

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Project team

Gary Todd

Lead Architect, Director

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Professional Reviews

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“What we really liked about Gary was he listened to our thoughts and comments and took great pains to encompass them in the design. We were also fortunate that we were not in a mad hurry to start building. We wanted everything to be just right, so we visited Gary on another 3 or 4 occasions during the year before we were all very happy with the final design. One interesting comment Gary did make, he wanted the whole experience of design and build to be enjoyable, and I have to tell you… it has been." It is with great pleasure I write to you about our experience hiring Gary to design our holiday home in Wanaka. On two occasions in the past Belinda and I have commissioned architects, one to design a new house and another to renovate our current home in Sydney. Both times, for different reasons we walked away. To say we were a little gun-shy commissioning an architect 2,000 kilometres away is putting it mildly, especially as this was going to be the first house we had ever built. After we bought our land, Belinda scoured the net and came upon Gary’s web site. Call it luck or by design but Gary was flying into Sydney the following week and we arranged to meet at the airport. From that first meeting we liked Gary very much and felt very comfortable talking with him. On his return home Gary visited the site in Wanaka and phoned saying that he was confident in designing us a house that would be a perfect fit for the land, the surrounding environment and for our family. What we really liked about Gary was he listened to our thoughts and comments and took great pains to encompass them in the design. We were also fortunate that we were not in a mad hurry to start building. We wanted everything to be just right, so we visited Gary on another 3 or 4 occasions during the year before we were all very happy with the final design. One interesting comment Gary did make, he wanted the whole experience of design a build to be enjoyable, and I have to tell you… it has been. Early on Gary gave us a broad brush cost estimate so we knew if we were within the ball-park or dreaming a fantasy. To be honest it really hasn’t deviated that much from Gary’s original estimate. Sure the costs have increased a little but not that much over the contingency that Gary strongly recommended we allow. Gary did make further recommendations during the construction as the house began to evolve. The extra costs were always quoted for us to consider and if not happy, we had the opportunity to stay with the original quote and design. Gary introduced us to Nevin Gibb, our builder and between the two of them I cannot believe the exceptionally high standard of build. Gary has been with project the whole way and the best decision we made was for him to stay involved until the end. I hope you use Gary; he’s a great guy and a very talented architect.”

Peter & Belinda Blaxland