Cox’s Bay House New Zealand, Residential Building, NZ Home Photographs, Architect

Cox’s Bay House : Waitemata Harbour Property

Contemporary New Zealand Property at Waitemata Harbour design by Stevens Lawson Architects

2 Oct 2007

Waitemata Harbour House

Design: Stevens Lawson Architects

Photographs: Mark Smith

photos © Mark Smith

Cox’s Bay House

This four-bedroom family home, overlooking Cox’s Bay and the western reaches of the Waitemata Harbour, sits amongst an eclectic collection of properties on a quiet suburban street. The house has been designed to replace a small and ramshackle house whose previous owner had covered almost the entire site in concrete.

The new design has sought to establish an interesting connection between architecture and landscape through a series of courtyards, lush gardens and an integrated approach to the formal qualities of the architecture and the landscape design.

photos © Mark Smith

The sculptural main form twists and ramps-up from the discrete street frontage over a cluster of organic ‘pod’ forms containing bedrooms, a lounge and kitchen. The main living spaces and circulation areas are seemingly held between these pod forms giving a relaxed air and fluidity to the spaces. Dark timbers and terracotta combine with ramping floors, sunken seating areas and hidden doors to offer a rich, playful interior. The home also features extensive built-in furniture, shelving units and a sculptural cantilevered staircase.

Externally, the chamfered black form interacts with the softer, textured pod shapes to create a challenging and enigmatic adaptation of the ‘classic’ New Zealand timber house. While from the waterfront the home references to the vernacular seaside bachs of New Zealand.

Stretching out along the narrow site and opening onto a series of intimate courtyards the house stops short of the sea to form a private waterside oasis, featuring a clifftop spa and swimming pool, sunken outdoor lounge, decks and extensive lawns and garden.

photos © Mark Smith

Waitemata Harbour House images / information from Stevens Lawson Architects

Stevens Lawson Architects

Location: Waitemata Harbour, New Zealand

New Zealand Architecture

Contemporary New Zealand Buildings

New Zealand Architecture Designs – chronological list

New Zealand Architect Office

Stevens Lawson Architects – New Zealand houses featured

Headland House, Waiheke Island, New Zealand

photograph © Mark Smith
Headland House on Waiheke Island

Westmere House, New Zealand

photo © Mark Smith
New Zealand house design by Stevens Lawson Architects
Within the rapidly changing neighbourhood our design relates to the rhythms and scale of the historical timber clad villas with their street facing verandahs, picket fences and balustrades. While the house is large, the proportions of the frontage closely relate to the Victorian era houses in the street.