Trends New Zealand Volume 34 No 4 | Page 55

For this contemporary, terraced home and its kitchen, building council guidelines and a tight site meant a smart solution was required to address the lack of available natural light. In response, the whole-house and kitchen designer Jason Saunders found several ways to get sunlight into the ground floor of the home and, by extension, into the kitchen. “We designed the home to emphasise links between indoor and outdoor areas. This included cantilevering the first floor out to the boundary, but leaving one central area open to the skies,” says Saunders. “This created a two-storey void which, together with a roof window over the kitchen, draws the sun into the home.” The kitchen, along with a concealed laundry entered from the workspace, takes a prominent position at one end of the ground floor, borrow- ing space visually and in terms of function from its surroundings. For example, the kitchen can open directly to the outdoor area in front via stacker doors, gaining space as well as sunlight. Of course, just as someone in the kitchen can look to the outdoor space or across to the dining area, so too is the kitchen on display. As the kitchen forms a backdrop to these Above left: This luxurious, clean-lined kitchen forms part of a whole-house design by designer Jason Saunders of Arc Seven 1. Faced with limited space, Saunders cantilevered the first floor to the boundary. A cut-out in the cantilever and a roof window mean the kitchen and surrounds are flooded with natural light from directly above. Bringing sunlight into the home had been tricky as the three-storey buildings to left and right had limited solar penetration. search | save | share at