With Toto Whare, Bull O’Sullivan Architecture has woven together whānau, whakapapa and wharenui in the transformation of this former state house, winner of the 2020 ir Ian Athfield Award for Housing. The award was given at the New Zealand Architecture Awards on 4 November 2020.

Jury citation

From the moment one approaches Toto Whare, it is evident that a warm welcome will be extended, not just to an Awards jury visit, but as an each and every day ritual. To start with, the orange corrugated cladding foregrounds the house from its more reticent neighbours. A golden welcome mat then blazes out ‘Kia Ora’ and, near the entry, an extensive whānau photo gallery illustrates whakapapa and serves as a reminder that a whare and its whānau are inseparable. And, if by now it’s not clear that this house is not just lived in, but loved up, experience the polychromatics of the interior: the darkened disco, the bleached bedrooms and the periscopic ply wharekai.

Bull O’Sullivan Architecture project description

Māori say there are 12 levels of heaven, referred to as ngā rangi tūhāhā (the bespaced heavens), arranged in an orderly manner, one above the other. Each of these heavens, it was taught, has its own series of heavenly bodies or luminaries – its sun, moon and stars – as well as its clouds and waters. The great New Zealand state house resides, I believe, somewhere between the higher heavenly levels: Rangi mataura, Rangi mataaho and Rangi tāuru nui.

What the Toto family has built itself upon this land has enabled access to these higher heavens, by way of Tāne Mahuta’s cousins and friends from Portugal. The house’s exterior is split like a flag from the prophet Te Kooti: strong, proud and full of energy for the rising sun. This Lyttelton family home must approach the highest heaven as it is full of love and warmth. The addition to and alteration of a small state house was crafted with care and aroha by the client for his whānau.

At the heart of the home is the desire to provide a strong, safe and nurturing place for past, present and future generations – a whare that upholds the values integral to the whānau and recognises the interconnectedness of the world. Reclaimed native timbers, kōrari (New Zealand flax), natural oils, sun, air and water are all woven together to create this whare.

See all the winners from the 2020 New Zealand Architecture Awards here.