Bretts Road

St Albans

Christchurch

THE PROJECT

Bretts Road was a new build design replacing an earthquake damaged home and built around a young family who needed space to live and grow. The house is a four bedroom dwelling with study / guest bedroom, large double garage, large living area and separate lounge with good connections to the outside. The design is clear and simple in its form and function, materials and execution.  

THE CHALLENGE

The design plan of the dwelling had been developed over a number of iterations with other designers and architects with the exterior form never quite meeting client expectations. The plans were massaged to retain the same flow between bedrooms and spaces with additional functionality. The plan was also adjusted to avoid extensive and complex steel structures and large overhangs, reducing all of the steel down to a single spanning steel beam. The form and materials were kept intentionally simple with three major materials. Brick was a preferred cladding, but due to the TC3 land below, this was swapped out for a textured render to give the appearance of cast concrete panels. Given the budget of the project, areas were chosen for features such as the stair, a few feature panel doors and the kitchen area. 

THE DESIGN

The design form is based on three large boxes arranged in a simple form with no additional projections from the form. It was important to avoid small projections and bump outs to keep clarity in the form. The stair feature, which typically projects out to the side is instead strung from the first floor ceiling hanging down and supporting the floating stair edge. The feature steel cable stair sits parallel in the hallway, lit from above with a skylight, which is immediately impactful on entering the dwelling. 

The first floor form, where the bedrooms are located, is designed to be present through the ground floor area, creating the ceiling and overhangs at the front and the back terrace areas. The feature timber ceiling runs through to accentuate this design feature. The downstairs is designed to flow between spaces with dedicated lounge space which can be closed off. The master bedroom functions as a suite on the ground floor with access to private outdoor areas. The layout has been designed to be adaptable, with provision for future ensuites to be added onto the bedrooms on the upper floor. 

THE OUTCOMES

The design plan had been interrogated over a number of months between the client and various designers. The layout and flow was good and only required some minor adaptations to ensure the design was structural efficient and to allow simple bold architectural forms to read from the plan. Future proofing and adaptability was a strong consideration given the house would be with the family for many years to come. To ensure the build came within budget a few areas were selected as feature areas where a slightly higher budget could be allocated, elsewhere a standard level of finish was selected. Overall the design is simple, bold and well proportioned dwelling which fits in well to the neighbourhood and creates an impactful design on the street.