Matakana House | Matakana | New Zealand | Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects

The house was designed as a response to its unique site. A corten steel wall presents a back to a busy road, blocking noise and complementing the surrounding rural landscape....more

Great Barrier House | Great Barrier Island | New Zealand | Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects

The house is nestled in a beautifully private setting surrounded with large Puriri trees, Blackwoods and other natives. The building form is elevated for flood protection, and acknowledges the hill to the west, lifting towards it’s elevation. The living zone opens completely to this setting, and the timber exoskeleton references the surrounding trees. The bedrooms all have protected outdoor space, being closely located to the trees for increased privacy. The house is located to protect the existing vegetation and to make the most of the sun and the native bird life on the property. Being on Great Barrier Island, the building also needed to be sustainable - the following abstract from an e-mail received from the Clients refers to this point: “The outdoor room is a place we spend much of our time, eating, reading, doing homework and siesta-ing; but the feeling of being indoors on those hot summer days with all doors open is also fantastic. Not cold enough (owing to that great low E glass and good design) for fires yet - we have had 2 only for ambience, not heat. “It is an astonishingly decadent feeling lying in a bath of free water, heated by the sun, pumped by solar power. Free as anything! Hot water gets up to 68 degrees in the tank from the sun, and has to be cooled to come out the tap. “With 9 staying and all the laptops, music, washing etc we’ve only run the generator 3 times ever. All the irrigation systems do clever things. So it’s more than a PC nod to sustainability, as you know from all our fussing about timbers and paints.”....more

ValuValu House | Fiji | Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects

Location: Fiji
Completion: 2006
Source:Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects

Wanaka House | Wanaka, Otago.New Zealand | Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects

Client: Hall Family
Location: Wanaka, Otago
Completion: 2004
Awards: Finalist - NZ Home & Entertaining Home of the Year Award 2005

The house was conceived as objects on the land, immersing the user in the surrounding natural landscape and the changing seasons. The house is low slung and nestled into the landscape, wedged into a gentle gully on the site, allowing for privacy from surrounding dwellings and protection from the northwesterly wind. The house is elegant and transparent, an object touching the land lightly. The garage to the east is disconnected from the main house allowing for a modulation of the built forms in the landscape. This is also the entry point to the house, moving between the timber garage wall along a sculpted gabion wall. Steel sections placed in this wall provide light shafts into the east of the house. The house is to be enjoyed throughout the year, socially and as a retreat from city life.
Images and text from Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects