Luxury home for Fisher & Paykel opens in Tāmaki Makaurau
Fisher & Paykel’s Auckland Experience Centre on Great North Road, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland reflects the company’s ‘Designed in Aotearoa New Zealand’ philosophy and identity.
A monumental and sculptural trunk of swamp kauri rests within the Auckland Experience Centre. The 4,000-year-old log has been split lengthwise to reveal the contours of its natural carved centre.
The Minimal Boffi Kitchen showcasing Fisher & Paykel Minimal Style products.
The Contemporary Arclinea Kitchen showcasing Fisher & Paykel Contemporary Style products.
The Professional Henrybuilt Kitchen showcasing Fisher & Paykel Professional Style products.
The Social Kitchen ‘Waka Table’. Crafted from a 9.5m-long section of 45,000-year-old kauri, the table references the outward-looking, entrepreneurial spirit of Pāora Tūhaere.
Partner content: On Monday 15 August Fisher & Paykel celebrated the opening of a flagship Auckland Experience Centre with a pōwhiri by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei. A new benchmark for the brand’s ‘Designed in Aotearoa New Zealand’ identity.
Designed by Fisher & Paykel’s experience design team in partnership with Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, Alt Group and Knight Associates, it is a place to “inspire bespoke architecture, kitchen perfection, and the life lived in the heart of the home,” says Mark Elmore, Fisher & Paykel’s VP of Design & Brand.
From the rammed-earth and black-sand-infused plaster walls to the 700-year-old wind-felled tōtara flooring and basalt upon which Auckland is built, every element within the Auckland Experience Centre has been thoughtfully selected in collaboration with Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei to emphasise the connection to place.
The building interior is a carefully orchestrated sequence of sculptural moments and luxury spaces.
The threshold’s six-ton basalt sculpture — a contemporary expression of Tumutumuwhenua, recognised as one of the primal parents of the Ngāti Whātua peoples — has a carved bowl filled with fresh water that rises and falls in sync with the tides of the Waitematā.
A massive log of 4,000-year-old swamp kauri, split lengthwise to reveal its naturally carved centre, represents Kāwharu, the ‘Kaipara Giant’, who is associated with the Great North Road ridgeline — Te Rae o Kāwharu, or the ‘brow of Kāwharu’ — where the experience centre is located.
The immersive luxury kitchens within the building are a result of design partnerships with three of the world’s great kitchen design companies – Boffi, Arclinea and Henrybuilt.
“Each is renowned for heritage and continuity, design innovation, kitchen systems and the quality of their craft and construction,” says Elmore.
“Like us, they have a commitment to design and detail resolution at the highest level. Each kitchen shows how our products can be expressed, detailed and integrated in the most beautiful ways.”
The pared-back and monochrome Boffi Minimal Kitchen is a singular architectural expression combining seamlessly integrated products with visually recessive minimal style appliances. The Arclinea Contemporary Kitchen has an additive materiality of Italian stone, bronze PVD and ‘Fossil oak’, a perfect complement for Contemporary style appliances. Crafted from solid walnut, the Professional Kitchen is the first kitchen by US-based Henrybuilt in the southern hemisphere and the perfect foil for the robust stainless-steel aesthetic of Professional style appliances.
Several other experience centre spaces will appeal to a design-savvy audience, including the Social Kitchen, a demonstration area for food and wine care, the fabric care space, designed with Boffi to showcase the future of the laundry, and the outdoor kitchen finished in limestone, which is a showcase of Fisher & Paykel’s grill brand, DCS.
Visiting architects, designers and clients are welcome to use the Plan & Choose Studio to discuss project opportunities with an extensive range of materials, products and advice on hand.
Visit the Fisher & Paykel Experience Centre at 199 Great North Road, Auckland 1021. For more information on Fisher & Paykel’s products and services visit fisherpaykel.com
This content has been created with support from Fisher and Paykel.
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