“That was harder than expected!” seemed to be the most-oft-repeated phrase after we asked some of New Zealand’s leading architects and former Urbis editors to select their favourite home or public space from the last 20 years for the 20th anniversary issue. We completely understand the sentiment.

With such high-calibre structures being designed and built locally in recent years (many of them by the very same people featured here), it is like asking a musician to pick their favourite phrase. Nonetheless, they pulled through with a veritable symphony of influences and expressions.

Seascape Retreat – Banks Peninsula, 2011 by Patterson Associates

I came across this house when I was Convenor of the NZIA National Awards. Travelling to it was magical: a lovely drive via Purau and Port Levy to Pigeon Bay, then bumping along on a classic Kiwi 4WD farm track, stopping to open and close gates, before descending into a remote, dramatic bay, where the only sign of human habitation was this stunning dwelling.

It sits embedded in the land, with the earth peeling up and over: a one-bedroomed retreat with breathtaking views across the bay to a distant rocky headland. It is very much of its place with local volcanic stone cladding, angular forms and tussock roof. Everything about it, from the long journey to the site, the arrival and habitation, speaks of an experience of escaping the everyday world and entering something deeper and more profound.

It is a place of repose, peace and beauty, deeply connected to the natural world. Instead of a construction that imposes on and detracts from the environment, this magically does the opposite, enhancing the place and enriching the experience of being in the sublime landscape of Banks Peninsula and Aotearoa. 

– Jasper van der Lingen, Sheppard & Rout Architects | See more here…

McIntyre House alteration – Kākahi, 2004 by Malcolm Walker Architects

The original house was a kitset home ordered and built by Peter McIntyre (a prominent New Zealand artist) as a fishing cabin and painting studio. It sat on a cliff overlooking the Whakapapa River. Unfortunately, the cliff began to degrade, threatening the home, so the house was picked up and moved 50 metres or so back on the property.

At that time, the architect Malcolm Walker designed a lovely alteration to the home, connecting the painting studio to the cabin with a simple breezeway addition. The studio is now a bedroom and a further bedroom, bathroom and laundry complete the house. Malcolm also added an oversized window seat to the corner of the cabin, creating a light-filled corner in the otherwise quite dark (but charming) interior. The house is now owned by the artist Simon McIntyre, Peter’s son. 

– Louise Wright, Assembly Architects

Franklin Road Townhouse – Auckland, 2008 by Cook Sargisson Pirie & Williams

I can’t recall the exact time I first met Marsh and Prue Cook but that’s not surprising because they make you feel like you’ve known them forever, welcoming you into their lives with big hearts and big hugs, much like their home always has done. Hidden in behind the leafy canopy of Auckland’s Franklin Road trees, the house is discreet in scale but opens into a large living and dining room that spills onto a courtyard and connects to more-intimate zones, with bedrooms tucked up higher into its wings.

The travertine floors gracefully wear the patina from plenty of parties and the soft Marmorino plastered walls are punched with moments of bold colour. There’s something about the Franklin Road House that makes you feel like it’s your own home or, perhaps, your parents’ home – there’s a familiarity and honesty that’s hard to articulate in words. You’re taken by an immediate sense of comfort and warmth when you arrive. It’s generous but perfectly sized, with expertly crafted proportions, materials and moments of light.

– Maggie Carroll, Bureaux | See more here…

Truss House – Auckland, 2013 by Sayes Studio

It’s difficult not to love a house that you built and lived in but that isn’t the only reason why this Henri Sayes house tops my list. Truss House is 115m². No garage. No en suites. It takes the three-bedroomed suburban house model, slims it down and flips it to reimagine a prototype that is small but feels large, is cleverly compact but awes when you walk in, and that feels cosy for two people but expands for parties of 40.

As lot sizes decrease and expectations increase, this small-but-perfectly-formed home is an example of how good design is so important to how we live. The lofty, double-height space over the dining room sweeps down over the living room, the bedroom’s pink ceiling is glimpsed through the floor-to-ceiling void and the light spills across the concrete floor.

The insane grass berm rises from the lawn outside. This house is fun as well as functional and reminds us of the human importance of architecture: not as an object but as space.

– Nicole Stock, Former Urbis editor (2008–2012) | See more here…

Whale Bay House – Bay of Islands, 2015 by DCHGlobal

The American architect David Hovey senior was born and educated in New Zealand and his architect son, David junior, was born and educated in the USA. I admired their published buildings and the prefabricated technology that permeated their designs. Learning that David junior was building a house for himself at Whale Bay piqued my curiosity.

First impressions of an empty metallic house in the late afternoon sun were overwhelming. Part Meccano, part Lego, part Detroit assembly line: the house leaped at me like a mechanical dog awaiting affection. Obvious construction technology and materials were unfamiliar but elegantly assembled. The proportions and relationships of windows and walls fitted to the structural frames created an ethereal lightness, unlike our usual weight-bearing framing.

The end result is a house that sits comfortably in the landscape, contributing to the colours and textures of the local environment. The interior reflects the exterior in palette and grace in a seamless manner that brings the two environments together. To prove that it belongs, as I left the site, a flock of noisy gulls circled the house and perched shoulder-to-shoulder along the edge of the roof, their droppings falling on the boxes and cartons that the US-made prefab house came in. 

– Marshall Cook, Cook Sargisson Pirie & Williams | See more here…

Kaitawa Road House – Otaki Gorge, 2007 by Dave Launder Architect

I have known Dave since I was an architectural graduate and my wife, architect Judi Keith-Brown, worked with him. A contemporary of Ian Athfield, Gordon Moller, Jon Craig and Roger Walker, Dave is always innovative and searching for new ways to do things and new materials to use and experiment with.

This national award-winning house in Otaki Forks, an hour’s drive north of Wellington, took Dave and Isobel from the suburbs to a rural environment. I enjoy the simple and very long building as a bridge: the way in which it spans a gully and sits beside the bush overlooking the plains and sea beyond.

The entry façade is closed and like a shell; the other side is all glass and open. Space and light flow and it is simple and relaxed. We have enjoyed spending time at this house and found it open, intriguing, innovative and elegant: very much a reflection of its architect.

– Ewan Brown, Tennent Brown Architects | See more here…