Villa and Bungalows fill a large portions of the inner city Suburbs of Auckland and throughout our nations towns and cities. They form an important part of the fabric of our built landscape and are much admired.
Their beauty still has a lot to teach us. A lot of their detailing has evolved over a long period and incorporates aspects that have sometimes been lost in modern design. They make an interesting study of structure, weather protection, ventilation and detailing for example.
Renovations are often an opportunity to reinterpret, extend, balance, provide contrast, mixing modern with old. It is why I often say that working on older homes, makes me a better contemporary Architect and working on contemporary architecture make me better at renovations.
Of the houses we have completed and featured on our residential homes, you can see examples of our approach. The Wood street house had clients that loved the Ponsonby location but really weren’t in love with Villas and would have ideally chosen a modern home. As a protected home, we chose to balance out the villa detailing and extend this to the exterior while introducing ultra modern bathrooms. This design is 18 years old and I’d like to think, shows the longevity of good design. The bathrooms with transparent marbalo vanity tops which are backlite to illustrate this approach.
The Izzard house in Ponsonby was a 1990’s interpretation of a villa. We fully contemporised the interior to bring that Ponsonby café chic, throughout the interior and feature outside.
Interpreting the picket fence while providing a second vehicle park, reinterpreting fretwork detailing as laser cut aluminium with entrance, garage doors and kitchen cupbds. Completing the wrap around verandah with feature louvres to the gable. We completely opened up the interior and opened it to the front and rear to better utilise a compact inner city site.
Our own offices in Arthurs Point, Queenstown resited a transitional villa from Linwood, Christchurch. Cornices and architraves were added to be in keeping with the two older periods of renovation.
This was completely relined and insulated with contemporary lighting. It was a most unusual project as the only sign of my intervention has been the black hand rail to the front and rear. Everything else has let the original design and period come through, but in reality everything has been upgraded. A twist on a vertical wood fire with drawer under, to a 100% efficient gas fire with heat extraction from the chimney meaning no heat escapes the fire. Openning up the front of the villa to create our offices is something I’ve frequently admired and somehow seems more natural.
My own house in Devonport was another extensive villa alteration and extension. This was playfully described as a house of the future. It has a 5000l underground roof water collection for showers to be chemical free, which also tops up the grey water system that treats the grey water for reuse in toilets and gardens. Added bonuses are that the 5000l tank acts as a retention tank under flash floods to improve harbour stormwater discharge. It was conceived as a model for all homes. Definitely the most complex systems I have designed but easier to experiment on oneself. Air to water underfloor heating system adds to the tech this home conceals. Reused kauri can be seen throughout, reinterpreted into contemporary features such as the main fires, kitchen extract, main stair with hidden glass balustrade. Its great to beable to contemporise while respecting the villas legacy and language.
This type of alteration, extension and additions is a very fulfilling aspect of our work as architects. I guess living in and completing work on a bungalow and two villas of my own illustrates my love and admiration of these homes, without the need to be slavish to their detailing.