Waiatarua House / Hamish Monk Architecture

Waiatarua House / Hamish Monk Architecture - BeamWaiatarua House / Hamish Monk Architecture - Facade, Windows, Beam, HandrailWaiatarua House / Hamish Monk Architecture - Facade, GardenWaiatarua House / Hamish Monk Architecture - Table, Windows, BeamWaiatarua House / Hamish Monk Architecture - More Images+ 16

Waiatarua House / Hamish Monk Architecture - Chair, Windows, Patio, Deck, Courtyard
© Mark Smith

Text description provided by the architects. The brief was for a new house on a challenging, steep site in the Orakei creek gully. One of the design challenges was to insert a bold (in size and placement) intervention into a sensitive bush reserve whilst still maintaining a sense of modesty and poetic. The desire was to seek out a quiet architectural expression, one that is devoid of excessive articulation and noise; a silent witness to its surroundings.

Waiatarua House / Hamish Monk Architecture - Table, Sofa, Beam
© Mark Smith

Conceived as sculptural components the design plays on purity and scale of the program articulated through three simple elemental forms that step down the site towards the creek - the roof of one floor creating a level platform for the next.

Waiatarua House / Hamish Monk Architecture - Facade, Windows, Beam, Handrail
© Mark Smith

From the point of entry the house offers a range of spatial experiences across the width of the floorplate; transitioning from a hunkered almost subterranean position in the landscape to an elevated position perched in the tree canopy. 

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Cite: "Waiatarua House / Hamish Monk Architecture" 08 Mar 2013. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/341346/waiatarua-house-hamish-monk-architecture> ISSN 0719-8884

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