![Waiatarua House / Hamish Monk Architecture - Image 1 of 21](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5138/efe8/b3fc/4be2/8500/006b/newsletter/7.jpg?1362685918)
-
Architects: Hamish Monk Architecture
- Area: 225 m²
- Year: 2012
-
Photographs:Mark Smith
![Waiatarua House / Hamish Monk Architecture - Chair, Windows, Patio, Deck, Courtyard](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5138/f0b2/b3fc/4be2/8500/0076/newsletter/18.jpg?1362686118)
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](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5138/f0b1/b3fc/4b1f/9600/0075/newsletter/17.jpg?1362686119)
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](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5138/efb1/b3fc/4be2/8500/0067/medium_jpg/4.jpg?1362685854)
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.
![Waiatarua House / Hamish Monk Architecture - Image 21 of 21](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5138/f1a2/b3fc/4b48/df00/0079/newsletter/section.jpg?1362686364)