The house is located on a semi-rural property near Wellington City, close to suburbia, between main arterial routes.

The site is steeply sloping with many established trees and one of the council conditions of consent was that any new dwelling was not to be visible from the public roads nearby. An area of pine trees was cleared at the centre of a sloping forested area, and the house was located there on timber piles, so that it had a sense of ‘floating in the trees’.

The owners wanted a simple 2 bedroom home with garage and a small studio for guests and family, and a roof deck from which to enjoy the trees, views and sky.

The house, studio and garage are laid out in a simple and economical rectangle plan shape with an equally simple roof with flat ceilings and a mono-pitch truss roof edged in a timber rainscreen parapet that also forms a boardwalk to access the roof deck.

The living space has a ‘winter-garden’ conservatory at its north end that provides a sunny and useable inside-outside area for use in all seasons and weather conditions.  The entry’s to both the house and studio are set down from the main floor level by one step, providing a separated area with a seat, mirror and cupboards to put on or take off and store shoes etc.

The interior colour palette is simple, with white walls, birch ply joinery and black elements and window joinery.

Sustainability Statement:

The house is built using predominantly using timber structure with minimal use of steel. Walls are 140mm thick to allow R3.2 insulation, and the ceilings are double layered with R6.3 insulation to truss roofs. Windows have Low E

Heat pumps provide space and hot water heating with additional electric underfloor heating, combined with a ‘heat transfer system’. The owners have found the house very warm in winter and rarely use any heating.

The long thin north-south plan orientation allows sun into interior spaces throughout the day in and offers outside areas with flexibility to suit different weather conditions. The slender plan also allows for generous natural cross ventilation and cooling.

All timber is FSC certified.

Photography - Paul McCredie