This modern contemporary family home was built for a young family on a spacious lifestyle property, located in Halswell, Christchurch. The brief was for a family home that would capture the sun, provide protection from the prevailing winds, incorporate sheltered outdoor spaces, as well as opening up onto a northern outdoor grassed area to feature natural materials.
Project Name: Wings
Studio Name: Borrmeister Architects Ltd
Building levels: 1
Location: Christchurch, New Zealand
Photography: Sarah Rowlands
With a covered cedar clad walkway connecting the double garage to the house, upon entry you a drawn to the outdoor courtyard space and the striking cedar awnings and screens beyond. The house consists of two main wings, which together provide shelter from prevailing winds, capture the sun at different times of the day and assist with cross ventilation of the entire house.
With each wing framing the northern courtyard plan offers visual interest and diversity between spaces, where sightlines through the house connect you to the outdoor spaces.
With an open plan living, well-appointed kitchen and dining area which extends out to a covered outdoor living/entertaining area, positioned to provide shade during the day but capture the evening sun, offers the flexibility required for a modern family.
The bedroom spaces are efficiently aligned to capture the morning sun, with views out to vegetable gardens. Elegant compositions and natural materials feature throughout; from the horizontal roof bands, oiled cedar weatherboards and plastered concrete block walls (inside and out), all contribute to the warm atmosphere and economical living spaces of the home.
Sustainability Statement:
The courtyard plan was developed to take advantage of passive design considerations such as enhanced natural ventilation, access natural solar gain, and protection from winds. The orientation and layout of the building has been carefully considered to optimise the northerly aspect, allowing optimum sunlight into the open plan living areas throughout the day.
In conjunction, roof overhangs, pergolas and sliding cedar screens have been carefully considered based on orientation and room type, each sized to allow the correct amount of shading in summer and sun penetration in winter. The house features materials, such as cedar and plastered concrete block which have been selected based on their durability and sustainability or their capacity to capture and store heat through their thermal mass.
A rendered concrete block wall is incorporated into the bedroom wing hallway to take advantage of passive solar heating during winter, whilst the sliding cedar screens provide adjustable shading as required in summer.
