Te Arai banner

Architect - Hamish Wixon from McCoy Wixon Architects

This Te Arai House was built for an Auckland couple as a northern retreat. The house is situated on the client’s farm on the hills of Te Arai, looking over the Pacific Ocean. The owners are passionate about native bush and have spent many years planting native plants on their property.

The owners of Te Arai House had admired another property designed by McCoy Wixon Architects Ltd at Lake Ohau, leading them to approach the company for their own unique design. 

The house is modest in scale, accommodating two bedrooms, one bathroom and an open plan living space.

Generous amounts of glazing affords views of the surrounding property, hills and the ocean.

Outdoor spaces are designed to provide protection from the elements by way of screens and cover. External materials are cedar and zincalume, with aluminium doors and windows.

The house feeds around the contours of the land, creating a sheltered rear courtyard.

McCoy Wixon Architects
Otago

About the
Professional

For over 60 years, McCoy Wixon Architects have been designing stand-out architecture throughout the South Island of New Zealand. That experience has underlined a fact: that listening and fully understanding the client's needs determines a project's success.

McCoy Wixon Architects are known for designing exceptional residential homes, commercial buildings and educational facilities. We are a design-led practice. That means each project is conceptualised by working through a process, where design solutions address each point in the client’s brief. The result is structures that function beautifully, impact appropriately with their environment and – most importantly – fulfil (often exceed) the client’s expectations.

At ArchiPro we recognise and acknowledge the existing, original and ancient connection Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have to the lands and waterways across the Australian continent. We pay our respects to the elders past and present. We commit to working together to build a prosperous and inclusive Australia.