Something New

The wife’s Māori iwi hails from Lake Waikaremoana, and the husband’s roots lie in rural New Zealand. These two backgrounds shaped a brief that called for a home deeply connected to Aotearoa — a place that would reflect their stories, culture, and landscape.

Located in Auckland’s Mt Eden, the house is a renovation of a heritage-listed bungalow. A strict heritage overlay informed the treatment of the street-facing elevation, guiding the form, colour palette, and materials. Rather than working around these constraints, we embraced them — preserving and enhancing the existing character of the bungalow while adding a new wing that responds to contemporary family life.

The original home now houses the bedrooms, while the new addition contains an open-plan kitchen, dining and living area, along with a study, powder room, and laundry. The new wing steps down with the natural contours of the site, gently unfolding toward the outdoor spaces and creating a strong indoor-outdoor connection.

Heritage is expressed not just in the architectural form but in every detail — through materiality, colour, texture, and pattern. Inside, the influence of Lake Waikaremoana is felt throughout: stone lining the main hallway echoes the lake’s shoreline; a sculptural screen near the dining space reads like forest trunks; green tones and the layered veining of the stone benchtop reference the lush valleys and the lake’s depth.

A personal touch appears in the timber corbels, salvaged from the husband’s childhood farm — still in the family — and lovingly rehomed within the house. They mark the transition between old and new: a symbolic gesture that speaks to generational change, memory, and continuity.

This is more than a renovation — it’s a reconnection. A home that celebrates identity, honours the past, and looks confidently toward the future.