![Kowhai House / Rafe Maclean Architects - Exterior Photography](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/61a7/7e0a/cdec/1101/64d7/9af8/newsletter/ecb832c8-1f32-4d62-bf91-e4185be971f7.jpg?1638366737)
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Architects: Rafe Maclean Architects
- Area: 140 m²
- Year: 2018
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Photographs:Simon Devitt
![Kowhai House / Rafe Maclean Architects - Exterior Photography](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/61a7/7dfe/cdec/1101/64d7/9af0/medium_jpg/60ae1be6-0f74-41d7-879e-c724b211914a.jpg?1638366730)
Text description provided by the architects. This resolutely internal house, sited on a steep and marginal site, successfully fulfils its purpose as an urban retreat. Providing compact but comfortable accommodation for four people, the small dwelling is a timely exercise in sufficiency and the optimisation of resources and opportunity.
![Kowhai House / Rafe Maclean Architects - Exterior Photography](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/61a7/7e03/cdec/1101/64d7/9af2/newsletter/196078ce-c8a0-48ec-a21d-4f254d743d79.jpg?1638366734)
![Kowhai House / Rafe Maclean Architects - Image 11 of 13](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/61a7/7e13/cdec/1101/64d7/9afb/newsletter/189f70fa-84ff-4387-8fd9-2fd57690bca1-kowhaihouse.jpg?1638366749)
Designed as an efficient thermal cocoon, the house also serves as a tree house, connected through its clever positioning and carefully framed views, with the wider view and more immediate surrounds, especially the kōwhai tree for which it is named.
![Kowhai House / Rafe Maclean Architects - Interior Photography, Beam](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/61a7/7e03/cdec/1101/64d7/9af3/medium_jpg/54831580-c28a-4d28-9024-4f94354b36d6.jpg?1638366734)
![Kowhai House / Rafe Maclean Architects - Image 13 of 13](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/61a7/7e0f/cdec/1101/64d7/9afa/medium_jpg/0c1bedfc-088d-4435-a294-c6d0ba89e600-kowhaihouse.jpg?1638366758)
![Kowhai House / Rafe Maclean Architects - Interior Photography, Kitchen, Countertop, Sink](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/61a7/7e09/cdec/1101/64d7/9af7/medium_jpg/c31adc2f-f92c-4daf-8415-85837324e65d.jpg?1638366739)
![Kowhai House / Rafe Maclean Architects - Interior Photography, Door, Chair](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/61a7/7e04/cdec/1101/64d7/9af4/medium_jpg/8676c538-e8cf-4cd7-ba8d-54f1fab5833b.jpg?1638366734)
The house, which was designed for the architect’s own family, is an intriguing exercise in self-experimentation – a little box of inbuilt happiness.”
![Kowhai House / Rafe Maclean Architects - Exterior Photography, Facade](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/61a7/7e05/cdec/1101/64d7/9af5/medium_jpg/958459bb-d143-4fa7-bfe3-a3ee3c828356.jpg?1638366734)