With an easy 15 mins drive to Titirangi Village and the Auckland CBD is 30kms away, clients Darrell and Kim had a brief for a modern 3 bedroom home to make the most of the sun and stunning sweeping views. From the East, looking over Cornwallis Wharf round to the North, and capturing the full length of Cornwallis Beach, and the Waitakere’s in the horizon.

With a narrow and steep site, a lot of care was needed to position the house to be similar to the existing bach and levels, all while maximising the footprint width and being mindful to not create large Height in Relation to Boundary infringements.

Darrell and Kim wanted a large garage, rumpus, laundry and bathroom on the lower level; the mid floor was to include open plan living/dining and kitchen, with a large scullery as well as the main bathroom, 2 bedrooms and separate WC. The master bedroom suite was always going to be set on the top and back on a third level. Large Covered decks are a must in Auckland and this is directly off the lounge, making the most of the “to die for view”, with another one at the rear of the Master Bedroom.

Staggering the built form up the slope minimized the projection, and respected the original lay of the land. A critical requirement was to have a 3-storey lift from the Garage with a main stairway, which gave us the central formwork to work around. The main entry and hallway sweeps around in an L-shape to the main and mid floor level.

From the top of the lift and stairs, the public and private areas are clearly defined. The public are led out to a stunning easterly view. Tucked to the right is easy access to the large and functional scullery with 2-way bomber hinged door. The main kitchen runs longitudinally from north to south. So, similar to the Wow factor at the top of the stairs the chief can look directly east, watch planes arriving or departing from Auckland Airport in the distance. As well view ships passing by in the channel below and heading out around Pupunga point towards the Manukau Heads. Visitors sitting at the island are treated to an expansive view out across the dining area through large opening corner slide back aluminium doors.

These doors were so large they had to be built on site and complex Engineering was key to bring the uninhibited East to North views inside.

Height restrictions were a limiting factor to higher ceiling as well as a unanimous desire for a robust roof design. It became clear we would need to have a sloping ceiling and a mono-pitched roof worked with our brief, so evolved a Gull wing roof with a central oversized box-gutter strategically placed next to the upper wall for easy care. Roof beams and upper wall beams are hidden in bulkheads and the ceilings slope upwards and outwards in two directions adding interest to interiors.