The owners of this Remuera property engaged Sumich Architects to design this single-level, eco-friendly, energy-efficient home that enhances the natural tranquillity of the site.

The park-like setting and the material palette create a peaceful ambience which has a distinctive oriental influence. The house is made up of four pavilions flanking an extensive living pond.

The entire house is built from timber apart from a concrete foundation and slab. Structure, cladding, roofs, and linings are all timber, and at the clients’ request, no treated timber was used anywhere in the build.

Achieving code compliance without the use of treated timber was a huge task involving extensive research by Lindesay Construction. Thirteen different species of timber of varying natural durability were used to achieve this.

Alongside this, a main focus was managing the construction process amongst the many protected trees on the site, and the foundation work was carried out largely by hand under strict observation.

Architect: Sumich Architects

Engineer: HFC Group

Photography: Sumich Architects