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ARCHITECTURE

modern bach
THIS WHANGAMATA BACH IS A STUDY OF UNDERSTATED ElEGANCE AND SIMplICITY, YET ITS COMFY AS AN OlD pAIR OF JANDAlS. WE CAUGHT Up WITH REGISTERED ARCHITECT JORGEN FRANDSEN FROM AMBIENTI TEAM ARCHITECTS FOR A CHAT ABOUT THE BACH.

modern bach
WORDS ANDY MARTIN/JORGEN FRANDSEN / PHOTOS ISAAC BRIGHT

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chat
What was the clients brief to you? The clients wanted a modern bach which reflected the values of their existing bach: informal, cosy and beachy. We talked about the fact that this house would start as a bach and eventually end up as a permanent home for our clients. Our brief was pretty loose and gave us lots of room to play with. What key elements drove the design? On the face of it, the layout is very simple. Maximising the sun, and using our local knowledge, we made sure that there are ways of getting out of the wind, which, in the Coromandel, can be quite vicious. This was mainly achieved by using wrap around decks, as well as a stepped in deck at the lower level. I am fascinated by the nature and light of New Zealand, so obviously we tried to maximise the views to the sea, as well as making the house spacious, allowing for plenty of family expansion over the festive season. This resulted in a multiuseable basement that can be used separately as well as for conventional guest accommodation. The garage and rumpus are interconnected via a huge sliding door, allowing the garage to become a part of one larger rumpus area. My client is a builder, and has very exacting standards for both his work and the materials he wants to use, so meticulous detailing was a big part of this job. It was a pleasure to work with a true craftsman, who appreciated and followed our detailing to the letter. The house is built in concrete masonry, stack bonded and honed, with the feature wall in stained cedar. Ceilings are Tasmanian Oak, and the roof structure is exposed epoxy How big is the house and whats the basic design? The house is approximately 260 m2 in two levels. Upstairs, it consists of master bedroom with en suite and wardrobe, guest bedroom, main bathroom (that acts as a semi en suite), kitchen, dining, living and a very interesting open library that connects with the entry void. Downstairs are two bedrooms sharing bathroom facilities, a large rumpus room, laundry, outdoor shower and double garage. The hall is a fantastic double height void with a very impressive open stair leading up to the main floor. What exterior cladding materials did you choose and why? The clients had a lovely old bach on the site; a very quintessential NZ bach, but not really big enough for the extended family, plus it wasnt really insulated to todays standards. Site preparation was really just carting off the old bach, and making sure that the site was protected from storm water flow paths. Apart from this, the only tricky part with any long and skinny section is obviously to observe the day lighting planes, but we have plenty of experience with this from designing buildings at Mount Maunganui and other similar places. What used to occupy the site and what site preparation was required prior to building on this elevated section?

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treated steel. Materials were chosen for low maintenance, with a lot of emphasis on choosing the right surface treatments of the materials. How many outdoor zones are there and how do they all work?

taken it a bit further in lots of ways. This project was fun to design, and we had a perfect client who shared the visions and goals of the initial sketch, so hardly anything changed from conception to realisation. This is always going to give the best result. How was the internal design approached?

What internal aspects please you especially? probably the lovely open plan, the sense of arrival with the open void and the ambience that only top quality materials and craftsmanship gives you. Final comments?

TERRY GRAY BUILDERS P 027 477 1039 / tgbuild@xtra.co.nz

Terry Gray Builders have been building with pride for over 30 years. As a registered Master Builder, Terry and his team are passionate about exceeding expectations when it comes to the overall building experience. The attention to detail and his passion for this is clearly reflected in the finished product.

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There is an outdoor wrap around deck upstairs, which leads to a halfway deck on the backside of the house (away from the afternoon sea breeze). Downstairs, there is a fairly large garden at the back, as well as a stepped in terrace off the rumpus room. What aspects of the exterior are you most proud of and why? In many respects this is a further study of the Henderson house we did in Te Ngaio Road at the Mount some years ago, which won the ADNZ design award in 2007. It is based around a very structured modular design, but in the Grays house we have As I said before, because the initial idea, based on a modular design philosophy, was left completely intact, the interior came together almost automatically, and with Jacquis safe sense of materials, colours and furniture, it is remarkably homogenous. Of course the idea of the floating roof is a bit of an Ambienti trademark, which you can also see in one of our latest designs currently being constructed on the Esplanade in Whangamata. This sense of roominess gives something extra to a house, and adds to the very important indoor outdoor feel that characterises modern New Zealand architecture.

In my view the Gray residence sits well in a line of modern Ambienti houses in the region. It is consistent with our design philosophy, which is basically to endeavour to merge form and function to a contemporary piece of architecture that will endure the test of time. I feel that we have done so in this case. The house sits well on the site. It is imposing without being flashy, yet very much a product of its time.

WHANGAMATA WOODWORKS P 07 865 7947 / 108 Lindsay Rd Whangamata

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Whangamata Woodworks designer lorraine Fuller has created a Cabinetry Collection with designs for the kitchen, the vanities and through to the kitchenette. Shadow-line handles, aluminum and glass frames, and Themoformed Dezignatek doors create subtle detail. Combine this with custom-made cabinets and lED lighting crafted and installed by Whangamata Woodworks.

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