Launched in Barcelona in 2008, the World Architecture Festival is a big deal. Considered by many as the pinnacle in the awards programme calendar each year, it attracts entries from all over the world across a wide range of categories and disciplines. In 2011, the Festival introduced sister festival Inside, to focus purely on celebrating interiors.

This year, 88 of the 159 projects entered made the Inside shortlist, and only two were from Aotearoa: one, Warren and Mahoney’s super-glam head office for Precinct Properties, the other, a fresh, light-filled residential project, aptly named ‘Sunny Side Up’, from the team at Rogan Nash Architects.

Rogan Nash is in good company in Residential, up against work by Ian Moore and Studio mk27. ‘Sunny Side Up’ is a relatively modest house for “a busy family with two kids and an energetic dog”, its brief calling for a robust home made for both entertaining and relaxing, especially at day’s end.

“We wanted to include natural timber elements and earthy tones to the interior to give it a no-fuss, easy care feeling,” explains project architect Eva Nash. Inside, the colours have been selected both to reflect nature and for their calming, restful quality. Timber is used extensively throughout the house: on flooring, cabinetry, an oak screen to the stairwell and wall panelling in the master bedroom. Even in the dining and living spaces, a cedar-clad ceiling wraps down the walls into a band to accentuate the skillion ceiling and its double-height stud.

The robust, white steel of the KXN cabinetry in the kitchen is teamed with a Super White granite splashback and a thin-plate stainless-steel rear bench — the thin shelf rebated in the stone to appear as if floating. The curved end of the island bench provides for conversational seating and a mix of oak veneer and half-round solid oak dowels provide a textured anchor for the island. Hidden behind a sliding door, the scullery houses a robust stainless steel workbench and additional sink, “perfect for the bartender of the house,” Nash points out.

The natural earthy hues of the colour scheme in the living areas develop into deep, rich tones as you move through the house to its more-private spaces. “In the snug, muted greens are layered to reflect nature, including walls in Resene Tana, Laminex Melteca ‘Possum’, a Città army-green velvet sofa and Nodi oatmeal rug,” says Nash.

In the master bedroom, toasty red accents are found in the ECC Flos IC double wall light and the Flora Bloom 2 Nani Marquina rug, with this colour reflected in the Flowerpot VP1 Pendant hanging in the powder room.

Nash and her fellow director Kate Rogan point to the many moments of innovation and creativity in the project. “Acoustic features are added with soft furnishings, an acoustic oak ceiling and soft floaty drapery,” says Rogan. “Thematically, the colour green travels throughout the home, from lush folium wallpaper that graces the powder room walls to the green granite in the ensuite vanity.”

Rogan says the practice considers the interior to be part of the architecture and is something she and the team include from the very start of a project, while Nash points out that sustainability is also a high priority in the early planning stages, with this project achieving a Homestar rating.

The pair are heading to Singapore in early November to present ‘Sunny Side Up’ to a panel of international judges. We wish them all the best.