An Uncompromising Auckland Family Home On 42 Square Metres

The positioning of architect Oli Sales space’s house shared with companion Libby Elmore and their one-year-old son was beforehand a yard. 

Recognising the necessity for additional densification of established suburbs, the household set about creating their very own house on the subdivided, compact block in Gray Lynn, Auckland.

‘If we are able to deal with scale, not as a compromise, however as a chance, it’s doable to create city houses that really feel beneficiant and linked, while occupying a small footprint,’ says Oli.

The finished home, Flippantly Weighted, is an instance of this philosophy. Oli and Libby designed the house to sit down on a mere 42 sq. metre footprint masking 85 sq. metres internally throughout two storeys. 

The higher storey embraces its environment with floor-to-ceiling home windows that seize leafy views, whereas the decrease storey is about inside the native vegetation and feels fully faraway from its city atmosphere.

‘As a consequence of website restraints, we had been unable to have a deck on the south western nook of the home the place the primary outlook is,’ explains Oli. ‘So, we determined to create the sensation of being outdoors by fully opening up the entire nook of the home right here so you could have the sense of full openness and interplay with the skin atmosphere.’ 

With the first focus of the home being away from the solar, a 4.2-metre lengthy ‘slot’ was inserted on the apex of the roof, directing mild deep into the dwelling areas.  

Fluted concrete panels on the outside set up a protecting shell that envelops the house and protects the expansive views inside. ‘The intent was to create a monolithic facade which appeared strong at a distance, however delicate and complicated on method,’ says Oli.

The success of the challenge overcomes the mindset that densification poses a menace to neighbourhood character. As Oli says, ‘Flippantly Weighted challenges this mindset and affords an perception to how we are able to improve our environment and enhance our high quality of life.’

The modest two-bedroom house feels eliminated and transportive, regardless of being embedded amongst residences within the Auckland suburb of Gray Lynn.