Swallow Point House - Noel Lane Architects Project in association with R.B Studio
By RB Studio
Bordering the Kaipara Harbour, Swallow Point House is a secondary residence for an Auckland family. The building is based around the ‘family tent’ idea in camping, providing: accommodation for the couple and their three sons (from teen to adult); the ability to work from home; additional living/shared spaces (including a library/music room); and spaces for intensified use over holiday periods. 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.
To minimise its physical presence, and to create separation and privacy between accommodation units, the house is designed as a series of low-profile structures. This allowed the roof form to be broken down into seven individual structures and to create a ‘fifth elevation’ that is well modulated and scaled when seen from the approach road above. It also allowed distance, privacy, acoustic separation, and ‘journey’ to be created within the plan.
The entry court is adjacent the hill, with the plan arranged from SW to NE to give each key interior space a harbour view. Rooms wrap around the edge of the hill platform from the main bedroom and offices to the SW, to main living spaces on the northern corner, to the three bedroom suites stepped along the NE 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.
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.
Builder: BBMK Koen McGee
Architect: Noel Lane Architects in association with RB Studio
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Swallow Point House - Noel Lane Architects Project in association with R.B Studio
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RB Studio is a design-focused practice. Quality to us means a commitment to producing buildings that endure - physically, practically and aesthetically. After careful communication, we apply innovative thinking to create solutions that transcend the brief. The client-architect relationship is fundamental to this process.
Our work is characterised by clarity, tactile materiality and the dynamic interplay of volume, light and mass. These attributes are the building blocks of good design and are the real forces that shape good architecture. Through a process of continual critique and refinement, our aim is to develop individual design solutions that meet the needs of our clients. We maintain a specialist team that focuses on projects with a cultural and artistic dimension.
As a team we strive to remain flexible, allowing us to maintain a high level of quality and consistency over the design, documentation and delivery of all work we produce. Our team are committed and dedicated toward producing well thought out architectural solutions that are practical to build and functional to occupy.
We utilise technology which includes three-dimensional coordination, graphics, colour rendering and modelling. This technology enables precision and performance, while allowing the office to maintain strong and consistent design. We develop individual design solutions that respond and reflect the client's brief. These solutions are refined over the project development. The client relationship is strengthened by on going communication and dialogue throughout the project. Communication begins with establishing values and principles that aggregate into a concept-driven design approach and outcome. We work alongside a highly skilled team of consultants including Geotechnical and Structural Engineers, Quantity Surveyors, Planners, Landscape designers and Project Manager. These consultants are engaged at critical stages in our projects to ensure performance to realistic budget and time expectations.
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