2019 Auckland Architecture Awards Winner
Korora Grove House
Many architects work with the vernacular: pitched roof, a weatherboard sheath, not too many windows, unfussy in every particular. Few achieve a comfortable luxury with it as well as Sumich Chaplin has with this house on Waiheke Island. You enter stepping down into the house, to discover a gorgeous letterboxed view through on the other side: the Hauraki Gulf, headlands, above a fringe of olive trees. As you move towards it, you discover the rest of the olive grove sloping away, and in the house itself a very generous living/kitchen space. To the left there’s a large outdoor area with fire; it’s screened with cedar battens on the outer wall, but able to be opened wide, as is the louvred roof. Everywhere, black and natural cedar offset each other, with featured stonework too, all of it enhancing the simple form. Bedrooms at the other side of the house have their own pleasing outlook across the olive groves and rolling hills. Achieving a house for the good life that doesn’t feel the need to get shouty about it is a lot harder than it looks.
- Practice
- Sumich Chaplin Architects Ltd
- Category
- Housing
- Location
- Auckland
