Te Awamutu House

By Stevens Lawson Architects

Profile
Te Awamutu House banner

This compact two bedroom house occupies a rear site adjacent to a school in Te Awamutu. Our client was seeking a fresh design which was spatial and visually inventive, and which engaged with her garden in an interesting way.

The design takes as its starting point a rectangular modernist box which is then carved out with arcing walls that orientate the house to the landscape, the sun and the entry. These arcs shape a free flowing living space at the heart of the house, which opens out to garden courts to the east and west for morning and afternoon sun.

The design gains its character from the interplay between the rectilinear and circular geometries, with covered verandah spaces formed within the overlapping zones. The rectangular roof plane is punctured with circular holes and skylights, reinforcing this central theme. The plain concrete walls of the box form are contrasted with the natural cedar of the curved walls, suggesting a hard protective exterior cut away to reveal a soft inviting interior.

AWARDS

  • WINNER — NZIA WAIKATO AWARD FOR ARCHITECTURE
Stevens Lawson Architects
Auckland

Professionals used in
Te Awamutu House

Stevens Lawson Architects
Stevens Lawson Architects
Architects
Aspiers Building
Aspiers Building
Builders

More projects from
Stevens Lawson Architects

View more

About the
Professional

Stevens Lawson Architects was established by Nicholas Stevens and Gary Lawson in 2002.

We are a design intensive practice with a deep commitment to producing innovative buildings that engage with culture and landscape.

Our aim is to produce an architecture of humanism and spirit.

Stevens Lawson works across the spectrum of architectural design, including residential, public, cultural, interior, urban and landscape architecture.

We have won numerous awards for domestic architecture, including the NZIA Supreme Award (the highest honour in New Zealand), and are becoming increasingly involved in the field of public architecture and urban design.

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.