Three-in-one

New Three-in-one Terrace House & Apartments Planning Challenge

This group of three new residences was designed to provide a sleek, stylish and generously appointed residence for our clients AND take advantage of the Auckland Unitary Plan’s Residential Terrace Housing and Apartment Buildings Zone rules. The criteria allowed us to provide two one-bed apartments at the back of the site and a large residence with pool and three-car garage for the owners at the street end of the site. There were requirements to maintain the urban character of the streetscape and be in keeping with the scale of the surrounding houses, and so the residences were placed in single file from front-to-back, taking advantage of the depth of the site.

Important factors in the design were:

• The sea view (featuring Rangitoto Island) which was available at the front end of the site and at height when viewed down the street ‘corridor’.
• The site contour – managing the levels to provide a recessed 3-car garage, living areas and main bedroom with the sea views, and landscaped pool/entertainment area.
• Breaking up and cranking the building envelope with the pool terrace, pergola, balconies, and entries to reduce the mass with domestic scale features.
• Creating long open-plan sight lines throughout the living areas to the sea views and pool terrace.
• Using ‘whole-of-site’ landscaping to provide well integrated outdoor rooms. On a very tight site the effective use of planting and paving created well defined entry lanes, a wooded hillside to the street, and lux poolside environment.
• Use of a minimal, durable and attractive exterior palette of materials; glass, metal cladding and vertical cedar weatherboard.
• Maintaining privacy between the three on-site residences and the neighbours.

Photographer – Barry Tobin