It has been a very busy start to the year with a number of new houses and developments being prepared by out office at the moment. Pictured above is a new single level 556m2 farm house proposed for a site in Clevedon. It will consist of painted brickwork, with stone landscape walls, corrugated roof and black weatherboard accessory buildings.  The form of the building is broken into modules to create a repeated visual  rhythm and moderate human scale, while facilitating staged construction.  Construction is due to proceed in the next few months.

 

 

Over the past few month we have been finalising the design for a French style Farmhouse. Composition, materiality and detail is drawn from the memory of my travels through Europe and extensive research into the construction of traditional ‘mas’.  The project has been re-interpreted and re-synthesised into a form that relates to our New Zealand lifestyle, environment, build-ability and building standards. Multiple roof forms, colours and detail combine to create the ad-hoc feel and liveliness of a Provencal village in summer.

 

In the design of these new homes we have made the best of the site contour by placing parking and entry on the lower-most floor, with stairs and lift up to a full floor of living with private backyard to the south,  and a large deck to north for maximum sun and views.  Four bedrooms with bathroom and ensuite occupy the top floor. These houses which number 31 in,  are on elevated and contoured sites which facilitate views over the city. 

 The deck is carried over an open entry courtyard enclosed with precast concrete walls and a screen door - a ‘bulwark’, effectively turning this space into a ‘bailey’– similar to the in-between area which lies just outside a castle’s gates, but within the fortified outer walls. This creates a secure space forward of the garage door to meet and greet guests or screen the recycle bin without the need of a boundary fence on the street.

Materials include natural anodised joinery and black stained weather boards, incorporating a weatherboard garage door, precast/ cast in-situ floor and entry walls, profile metal roof, cantilever glass balustrade and canvas awning.

 

We propose an extensive alteration to an existing waterfront home in Whitford, turning what is currently a modest barn into a sophisticated 470m2, four bedroom modern home, with new entry dining and lounge, garaging, and master bedroom suite above.

 

This modern mono-pitched home, terraced landscape and swimming pool was designed for a young family with a property on the waterfront in Maraetai. The monopitch roof takes advantage of the tight town-planning constraints and moderate site contour, something the designer is always mindful of when working on properties in this precinct.  The living areas and master bedroom suite were positioned on the upper level to take advantage of fantastic views across the gulf and out to Waiheke,

Garaging is on the south, rearwards side of the building and  the children’s bedrooms and rumpus are downstairs to maximise access to the lawn,  and swimming pool compound. Here, pool fencing is hidden by hedging and a change in level.

The upper roof extends over the upper outdoor deck for shaded, and rain proof summer living – this is the Auckland seaside after all!

 

 

 

Given a brief to design a pool, an outdoor kitchen, and a sitting area, we came up with an Italianate landscape concept. The proposed pool was a 17 x 4 Roman style pool based around classical proportions.  We added Anduze pots on plinths to the sides of it, similar to the pool at Serre de la Madone in the south of France that I visited with clients in 2006. The small stone and plaster buildings are composed around a paved courtyard with inlaid potpourri patterned basalt cubes. The outdoor kitchen faces down the pool to the existing house on axis. The loggia is symmetrical around a large fireplace, with banquettes facing each other.

 

 

 

We could see the flames from our office window so we decided to run up the road to the scene of the blaze. The fire took hold very quickly. By the time the local Fire Services arrived, about 10 minutes after its outbreak, little could be done to save the building. This tragedy highlights the significant risk in rural areas posed by fire even in winter. This is something that all Whitford residents should be aware of and be vigilant against. Shocking.

While smoke alarms are now a mandatory requirement for new homes, sprinklers are not. We have specified and installed sprinklers in one house in Whitford so far, but we hope that a real fire never activates them. The Fire Service also places conditions on new Resource Consents for subdivision which dictate the requirements for fire fighting water tanks to be located close to proposed building platforms (but not too close – to prevent access to them in the event of a fire).

 

It is an ideal situation having a Registered Architect‘s technical knowledge brought to bear in the designing hard landscaping such outdoor kitchens and fireplaces.  Knowledge of Landscape Architecture alone is not sufficient to obtain a well crafted or functional outcome.

We particularly enjoy creating ‘in-between’ space including outdoor kitchens and fires. This design has echoes of the tropical east with lotus plants in elevated pots, surrounded by buxus hedging. The Kitchen and BBQ area has a central fire clad in bluestone and capped off in copper to match the existing house. Bamboo, banquettes with multi-coloured cushions,  tropical wall hung reliefs and a sculpture of Budda complete this oriental ensemble.

 

On the weekend of the 9th of July the PDA team travelled to Orewa to see the Centrestage Theatre  production of “Les Miserables”. C'était fantastique et merveilleux.

The following day we toured Omaha in the rain and admired several new buildings constructed on the waterfront. The most fetching of these were the ‘New Remand Centre for Wayward Architects’ below, closely followed by the ‘Omaha Parking Garage’, which has a podium structure ready for the national bank’s yet to be built lost (twin) tower.  Seriously through, these are aesthetically challenging dwellings with beautifully constructed concrete work, controlled fenestration and abstract facades. They are, however, perhaps a little too brutal in the context of kiwi seaside suburbia. The love of ascetic / didactic modernism is a strangely exclusive 'architect thing'.

 

 

Thus far, our office has had good luck having subdivisions in Whitford approved under Proposed Plan Change 8. Six new residential lots have been approved (with one residual lot and one access lot) for Turanga Creek Estate Vineyard at 133Whitford Park Road and Brownhill Road. These new lots are clustered around a seasonal waterway with lush native planting. Future residents will also be able to enjoy a close association with the wider vineyard setting, and facilities including the cellar door, proposed tasting room, restaurant and wine bar on the property.

The first of six new Mediterranean style villas is to be constructed on the estate (pictured). These will be built by local craftsmen to create the rustic ambience of European vineyard architecture.  An expression of permanent materiality will be created using clay tile roofs, plastered brickwork, double glazing, heavy timbers, with tiling and crushed shell landscaping.

 

 The sketch has turned into reality. The Turanga Creek vineyard cellar is now open.  This old stables building was renovated with lime washed walls, replacement roofing, and new interior fit-out. Tastings are available Wednesday through Sunday, or by appointment. The next part of this  design project is to complete construction drawings for the main restaurant and tasting rooms – pictured below.

 

 

The Wrapped Town Hall project made it onto the TVNZ Breakfast Show on Monday the 4th of May. The project was intensely disliked by Paul Henry what a surprise who obviously does not know the difference between originality and homage.

We suggest that the unification of city lends itself to a grand artistic gesture, and we (re)commend the new supercity take this one-off opportunity to employ Christo & Jean Claude to carry out a suitable installation to celebrate the fact. We are just happy to generate and propose the big ideas

 

 

PDA proposes wrapping the Auckland Town Hall (Christo-style) as a gesture of purification - readying the building for rebirth as a symbol of a unified Auckland, reasserting this monument as a symbol of democracy. This is the first image that we have prepared which encapsulates our initial idea.

Precedents for 'wrapping' include the Wrapped Reichstag project for Berlin (1971-95). The Reichstag was wrapped by Christo and Jeanne-Claude - symbolically preparing the building for a reunified Germany

 

In the1980s I had the privilege of having Pat Hanly and Claudia Pond-Eyley as my drawing instructors – fantastic inspiring stuff.  As a student and as a lecturer in architecture I continued to learn and to look at “the big issues” with Pat.  While sorting through files this last week I came across a handwritten memo (below) which was handed out at Pat’s funeral a few years ago - detailing Pat’s view on Art.  It is always good to be reminded as to the fundamentals of art and design – especially from the grave!

 

Our staff made a site visit to Barry Curtis Park to review the essential landscape design idea and quality of construction.  Health and safety hazards were also evaluated – as indicated in the photos. Denial of a walking axes  - with gullies between the axial pathways - was irritating to say the least; the moa eggs looked good, and the macrocarpa seats excellent; however, the fact that the small park building was being refurbished only 18 months since its construction is a dismal indictment of local community spirit - with tagging being removed and the building being replastered and repainted – with most of the natural finishes being replaced - before the park has even opened.  The stone walls look fantastic, however one has to question Manukau City Council’s desire to invent historical ‘battlement’ walls (that may have existed here last century) while showing zero commitment to saving real historical  architecture  - the original school house (threatened by demolition) which is less than 100 metres away. PDA attempted to facilitate saving this building last year, however our client was unable to raise the private funds necessary for its renovation after relocation.

 

 

 

 

On Sunday 1 March 2009  Peter was on Radio Live between 8.30 and 9.00 am expressing his views on architecture and talking a little about his current projects, then taking calls from listeners. Check out Peter's interview on Youtube - it is in 4 parts.

 

Click here to watch the other 3 parts

 

One of our clients, Finesse Residential, advertised in the Times Newspaper featuring several photos of one of our house designs. The Whitford home featured, was completely redesigned with a brief that included a substantial  addition and alteration – new bedrooms and games room,  together with  landscape master planning and resource consents for a new swimming pool,  new driveway and garden.

 

 

Our renovation of an historic whitford building is  featured in this weeks Times Newspaper.

Jesma Magill writes -

Front Page Feature: Landmark Whitford cottage born again

One woman’s mission to rescue a derelict cottage with a fascinating history has finally been accomplished.

For many years Whitford resident Elizabeth Diprose followed the chequered history of the Ambrose Cottage, built by Mr Ambrose Trust Snr and Ambrose Trust Jnr at Hillside Farm near Griggs Road in 1868. 

Trust was an English farmer from Devon who arrived in the country with his wife and young family in 1858.  He managed the Kennedy Farm which later became the Whitford Golf Club.  

From the early 1990s, Elizabeth, her husband Ken, plus thousands of people travelling the Whitford Road, witnessed the kauri cottage languish into disrepair.

Livestock often wandered through and it became a target for vandals. The small, humble structure was also lashed by wind and rain – inside and out.

The cottage then became the focus of intense debate between various groups with each faction claiming the best plan for its future – plans ranging from its immediate destruction to preservation by the Historic Places Trust. …

 Click "read more" below to go to the original article

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On Sunday 1 March 2009  Peter was on Radio Live between 8.30 and 9.00 am expressing his views on architecture and talking a little about his current projects, then taking calls from listeners.

 

 read more ...

The sketch is turning in into a reality! Very soon Whitford will have its first vineyard cellar with sales of local wine.  This old stables building is in the process of being renovated and sensitively upgraded, with lime washed walls, replacement roofing, and new interior fit-out to cater for discerning thirsty humans rather than for tired dry horses.

We will let you know when the first tasting is.

 

 

For the last month our office has been working part time on the architectural video “Graces & Vines” for exhibition in the I-Mage Festival to held in Florence.

Theme of the video is a polemic attacking the blandness of universal commodification of architecture within suburbia.  It then shifts to a fanciful  classical narrative calling on the ‘gods’ to redress the proliferation of banal mediocrity of the type of construction initially illustrated: which is separate to real communities, divinity and nature...

The Three Graces travel to New Zealand on this mission. However, as is typical of this genre, gods always set twisted conditions  - one god double crossing the other.

This narrative facilitates the presentation of a current real project for a winery and
cafe by pda architects, as the Three Graces frolic through the grapevines on the
secret quest set by Dionysus the god of fertility, wine, and growth.

The working drawings of this project for Turanga Creek Winery are nearly
completed with construction scheduled  at the end of 2009. Genre: Science fantasy, Kerouac, Classical Legend, MTV

Thanks to all those who took part in the project.

 read more ...

 

Images now on show at Whitford’s Brickworks cafe include two photographs of the angels on the Ponte Sant'Angelo.

Wikipeadia states that Ponte Sant'Angelo, once the Aelian Bridge or Pons Aelius meaning the Bridge of Hadrian, is a bridge in Rome, constructed between 134-139 by Roman Emperor Hadrian, to span the Tiber, from the city centre to his newly constructed mausoleum, now the towering Castel Sant'Angelo. The bridge is faced with travertine marble and spans the Tiber with three arches; it was approached by means of ramp from the river.

 In times past, pilgrims used this bridge to reach St Peter's Basilica, hence it was known also with the name of "bridge of Saint Peter" (pons Sancti Petri). In the seventh century, under Pope Gregory I, both the castle and the bridge took on the name Sant'Angelo, explained by a legend that an angel appeared on the roof of the castle to announce the end of the plague. During the 1450 jubilee, balustrades of the bridge yielded, due to the great crowds of the pilgrims, and many drowned in the river. In response, some houses at the head of the bridge as well as a Roman triumphal arch were pulled down in order to widen the route for pilgrims.

For centuries after the sixteenth century, the bridge was used to expose the bodies of the executed. In 1535, Pope Clement VII allocated the toll income of the bridge to erecting the statues of the apostles saint Peter and Saint Paul to which subsequently the four evangelists and the patriarchs were added to other representing statues Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses.

In 1669 Pope Clement IX commissioned replacements for the aging stucco angels by Raffaello da Montelupo, commissioned by Paul III. Bernini's program, one of his last large projects, called for ten angels holding instruments of the Passion: he personally only finished the two originals of the Angels with the Superscription "I.N.R.I." and with the Crown of Thorns, but these were kept by Clement IX for his own pleasure