House Under Eaves, Point Wells Residential Development, New Zealand Home, Architecture, Images
House Under Eaves in Point Wells
New Zealand Residential Building ? design by MRTN Architects
11 Oct 2016
House Under Eaves
Design: MRTN Architects
Location: Point Wells, North Island, New Zealand
House Under Eaves

Located in a new subdivision less than an hour from Auckland this new house was one of the first built on a flat site that has been split up to create well sized semi-suburban semi-coastal sections on what was once pastoral land.

 
Faced with a flat vacant lot with no neighbours the design strategy was to anticipate the soon to be context and also to create a sense of retreat from the street. We also wanted to respect the client?s privacy and provide a layered separation from front to back.
We proposed the use of shadow as a design material, creating an oversized dark roof that rests on thick cedar clad walls. The roof protects from the elements, heavy downpours are common, but also the extended black eaves and long shadows are protective in nature. From the interior the black eaves frame the landscape views and enhance the appearance of the surrounding greenery.

As you approach the subdivision from a car the house appears as a simple gable form, referencing the work of the early New Zealand modernist Group Architects. From the street the roof is held up by the cedar clad walls and the front door is screened by a poured in place concrete wall. Moving through the ...