Trends New Zealand Volume 34 No 2 | Page 77

the living spaces, with much more trans- parency and openness on the back facade. “This facade fits around existing trees and has a sophisticated palette of finishes – a mixture of concrete, glass, clay brick wall and bamboo railing.” The fair-face concrete was cast on site and used for the main building com- ponents such as the facade wall, roof, columns and beams, while clay bricks were used for internal dividing walls. “All these surfaces were left raw, rather than plastered, so they require less maintenance and will have a longer life.” The owner occupies half of the ground floor, while the rest of the space is given over to four guest rooms on the first floor and shared facilities such as the ground floor kitchen enclosed in a glass box. Both floors include outdoor, multi-functional gathering spaces. “We tried to break away from the usual concept of how people perceive a house,” says Chan. “We wanted to reconfigure the internal spaces so there would be enough flexibility to blend with the exterior.” Above: Fair-face concrete was cast on site to produce the main building components, including the front facade, concrete roof and the interior structural columns and beams. Clay bricks were used for interior dividing walls as well as for some exterior walls at the back of the house. Natural mountain water is channelled into the fish pond outside the kitchen. search | save | share at