By Parsonson Architects
The house is perched above Ruby Bay in the Tasman area of New Zealand. It is a humble dwelling with 2 bedrooms, a study and single living area, covered in a protective shell of weathered steel. The house extends southwards off the hilltop towards the south to rest delicately on a pair of well anchored columns.
The layout of the house is multifunctional, allowing views to the mountains to the west and to Tasman Bay to the east, while allowing connection to the outdoors and shelter from the east sea breeze and colder southerly winds. Generous overhangs and louvred screens mediate connection to the outside, offering shading and shelter from the sun, wind and rain throughout the changing seasons.
Entrance is via a stair from the driveway level below. The house is rectangular in plan, with the bedrooms located to the south and living areas to the north.
The house is embedded into the site with exposed concrete blocks used as retaining and bracing walls, contrasting with the delicacy of douglas fir posts and beams of the main living space, which is lined in oukume plywood. Around a corner at the top of the stair, the hallway to the bedrooms is treated as a colour-box, with reds and oranges and spotted gum floors.
The form of the house has a simple graphic quality with raw materiality, not unlike the work of the now deceased painter Colin McCahon who had lived nearby at one time."
Parsonson Architects was established in 1987 and is based in Wellington, New Zealand. The practice has focused primarily on individual houses and aims to produce work with a high level of sensitivity and discipline, engaging the spirit of each owner and site. More recently projects have included apartment buildings, retail fit outs in North America and Europe and competition entries across a variety of building types and project scales.
The practice is recognised as consistently delivering work of excellence, represented by the major awards and regular features in both local and international architecture and design publications.