Prospect House is a contemporary new home situated on a generous site in Mt Eden. The house enjoys a sense of prospect with views both within and beyond the site. The brief was to create a family home with a sense of ease and liveability. A home that would enhance the sense of connection to Maungawhau and the wider Mt Eden landscape, and at the same time, provide a sense of privacy and sanctuary through a connected series of spaces across the entirety of the site.
Inspiration came from the client's memories of her grandparents mid-century home which was built around a courtyard and expressed a cosy ambience through a soft palette of textured materials. The honest and consistent use of materials from inside to out in the new home includes warm cedar, soft limestone, muted matt lichen joinery and stone crazy paving, which together create a richly textured and tactile experience.
Maud
Sam Hartnett
Faulkner Construction
Carlielle Kitchens
Best Awards 2024 - Residential Interiors, gold pin
Best Awards 2024 - Residential Interior Architecture, gold pin
Best Awards 2024 - Colour Award Spatial, silver pin
Best Awards 2024 - Residential Architecture, silver pin
HERE Magazine, no 25
HOME, Oct/Nov 2024
From early upon arrival, the interior offers a richness of visual ‘flavour’ through bold materials, and an overarching sense of warmth and tactility. Chunky crazy paving stones are used both out and indoors, a move that translates to durability and a certain ‘un-fussiness’. Small, creamy limestone bricks cover the walls horizontally, while a sort of skirting of the same material (but vertically stacked) creates a datum line across the whole interior that anchors the spaces and provides continuity. Coffee coloured tiles; cedar stained in deep chocolatey browns; light fittings made from ceramics or cork, lush carpets and textiles in delicious colours all add depth to the ambient interior. It is a recipe that mixes tactility and the handmade; the textural and the porous, to come up with a relaxed and down-to-earth space that is equal parts elegant and chilled.
The integrated courtyard spaces provides the home with opportunities to connect to views both across the home as well as beyond the boundaries of the dwelling. Intrinsic to this strategy was consideration of movement through the home which has been designed to guide the occupants through each space in a relaxed and easy way and the cohesive material palette helps to bring a sense of ease to this journey.
Ultimately what elevates the home is the sense of ease and serenity you feel when there. Varying volumes create a series of different spatial experiences as you move from room to room, while light has been carefully considered to bring life to the home’s rich palette of materials and to chart the passing of time throughout the day and year. Quiet detailing minimises visual disruption allowing materials and furnishings to take the spotlight and enhancing connections between spaces both within the home and to the wider landscape beyond.