Explore our collection of new homes, renovations and extensions, and commercial spaces across New Zealand. Each project begins with different people, and a unique setting.
From coastal retreats to reimagined family homes, discover how thoughtful design turns ideas into places people love spending time in.
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The landscape around Mountain View House needed no improvement. The existing Tudor-style home was cold, however, and its rooms did not take full advantage of the mountain and lake outlooks. The renovation in Ben Lomond set out to change the building’s comfort and its relationship with that setting together.
The owners wanted a warmer home with spaces organised around living, entertaining and retreat. Rather than treating the work as an exterior refresh, Modal Architecture reconfigured both floors, addressing the arrangement of rooms alongside insulation, windows and internal linings.
On the lower level, the existing kitchen, laundry, bedroom, lobby and bathroom arrangement was cleared and reorganised. The kitchen was connected with dining and entrance spaces, while the lounge extended onto part of the existing deck. This gave shared living more room and a more direct relationship with the outdoors. Several sitting areas offer different places from which to enjoy the surrounding landscape.
Upstairs, the wardrobe arrangement was revised and new bathroom and ensuite accommodation introduced. The main suite was enlarged, including an extension partly over an existing balcony, to take greater advantage of the Remarkables and Lake Wakatipu. Its walk-in wardrobe and ensuite sit within a more useful private part of the house.
Triple glazing and thermally broken frames accompanied upgrades to insulation and linings. The windows were positioned and sized around outlooks towards Walter Peak, Cecil Peak, the Remarkables, Lake Wakatipu and Mount Pisa. The envelope work and the view strategy therefore developed as parts of the same renovation.
A smaller detail brings another aspect of the owners’ use into the design. A custom wine rack occupies both sides beneath the stair, with capacity for up to 220 bottles, putting this area to a specific purpose.
Completed in 2024, Mountain View House now has a more connected arrangement of shared rooms and a reworked suite above. The project makes the existing property a better place from which to inhabit its setting, with the work to the building fabric supporting that change.
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A workplace can express its culture through what people are able to do there. For Aro Digital, that meant moving between focused work, collaboration, workshops and social events within an office that felt like the team using it.
Co-founders Jonty and Tim wanted their Oriental Parade premises to reflect a vibrant, flexible business. A forthcoming local workplace feature provided a catalyst, alongside a short programme and limited investment. The design needed to prioritise changes that would make a difference to everyday occupation within those constraints.
Modal Architecture concentrated on alternative work settings, soft furniture, branding and multifunctional spaces. This approach gave the team more ways to use the office without making every area depend on a single activity. Working and gathering could overlap through furniture and spatial choices, supporting the varied requirements of the business.
The existing yellow wall remained part of the interior. Retaining it gave the renewed office continuity with its previous character, while the additional settings changed how the surrounding spaces could be occupied. The emphasis was on making the available workplace more useful and more expressive of Aro’s identity.
At the back of the office, the outdoor area became a function space. This extended the provision for team occasions beyond the interior. At the waterfront edge, a colour-changing Aro HQ sign made the business visible on Oriental Parade, carrying its identity into the public-facing part of the premises.
The completed project brings those changes together as a workplace suited to several modes of use. Staff have settings for concentration and shared work, alongside places for workshops and social events. For Jonty and Tim, the office now better supports the culture they wanted to express and the growth they wanted it to accommodate. Its character comes from both the visible branding and the flexibility of the spaces behind it.
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Recycled bridge beams form the rafters at Bridgewell, while a two-storey Corten steel 'Tardis' changes colour as it weathers. These are defining parts of a home that Karl and Melina imagined for years: a Queenstown retirement base with space for food, wine, guests and family.
Introduced to Modal Architecture by our Mountain View Home clients, Kyle and Chris, the couple brought a brief that combined generous entertaining with practical requirements for storage and garaging. Views towards Coronet Peak and The Remarkables established the landscape setting. The home also needed to accommodate a longer view of retirement, including the possibility of independent accommodation in future for additional income and guest overflow.
That ambition required attention to planning as well as the building itself. Subdivision limitations and planning controls shaped the available options. Modal Architecture developed a staged strategy that preserves the future accommodation opportunity alongside delivery of the main home. Keeping that possibility in the design process gives it a place in the project’s direction, even though it is not an immediate requirement for the couple.
The architectural centre is a gabled living space whose rafters are made from recycled bridge beams. Their scale and material character are part of the experience of the room. Render and schist extend the palette, alongside the weathering steel of the 'Tardis.' Developed closely with Melina, this two-storey element gives a particularly personal expression to the design. Its changing surface introduces a material that will continue to change over time.
These choices sit within the couple’s wider priorities for entertaining and family life. The home makes space for those shared occasions while addressing the storage, garaging and future accommodation that support a longer-term home.
Bridgewell brings Karl and Melina’s retirement vision into everyday life. Its gabled living space gives hosting a central place, while the staged planning approach keeps future independent accommodation within the property’s longer-term possibilities.
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California House looks inward to find its openness. On the Kāpiti Coast, the owners wanted a forever home with privacy, architectural presence and abundant daylight. Those ambitions required more than choosing between a solid exterior and extensive glazing.
Richard referred the project to Modal Architecture. The central question was how the house could remain protective towards the street while giving the people inside a generous relationship with light and landscape. The answer lay in shaping an outlook within the property itself.
Concrete forms and controlled street openings establish the external boundary. Behind them, the house turns towards internal gardens, courtyards and terraces. These spaces give the rooms something to open onto without making the street the primary source of outlook. Privacy and landscape become parts of the same arrangement.
Light is brought into that composition at more than one level. Clerestory windows and skylights introduce daylight from above, complementing the openings towards the internal outdoor spaces. This gives the design alternatives to enlarging street-facing windows where privacy is important.
Curved concrete and deep roof forms contribute to the character of the home. Their presence sits alongside the planted spaces, creating the contrast that defines the experience: a solid, private exterior followed by a more open interior setting. The design does not rely on revealing everything from the public edge.
The owners’ home is private towards the street and open towards its own landscape. Internal gardens and high-level daylight offer a way to enjoy light and outdoor space without relying on exposure at the public edge.
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At Coolidge Heights, the garage level helped determine the architecture four storeys above it. Access could not be separated from the steep Wellington site, and the house had to climb from that fixed starting point to reach the views Deb wanted to enjoy.
Her ambition combined a substantial home, harbour outlooks, generous entertaining spaces and a baking kitchen with an investment dwelling. Dean introduced her to Modal Architecture after earlier design attempts had not progressed. The task was to bring the brief and the site into a workable design.
A steep, unstable gully and a stream made ground conditions central to the design. Retaining, earthworks and driveway gradients affected the arrangement of the buildings, while consent requirements shaped the wider process. We brought structural, geotechnical and civil coordination into the work early, so that the architectural design developed with these constraints in view.
The fixed garage levels led to a four-storey house, with the principal living and entertaining spaces at the top. A stair wraps around a lift, turning vertical circulation into a gradual encounter with the landscape. The outlook appears during the ascent before opening into the upper living spaces. Movement through the house therefore carries part of the experience that originally drew Deb to the site.
The ground around the building has an equally significant role. Extensive retaining and rear gardens became such a distinctive part of the project that the engineer nicknamed them the ‘Colosseum gardens’. Their presence records the scale of the landscape work involved in making the site usable.
Early professional coordination supported clearer costs and a staged investment strategy through design and delivery. Deb now enjoys the spaces she most wanted: places to bake, entertain and look out across Wellington, connected by a journey that makes the demanding site part of the home’s character.
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Much of Dashwood House is deliberately given over to family who visit throughout the year. For Ben, space for children and grandchildren to stay through long weekends and Christmas was central to the project. The home needed to make those visits part of its normal way of working.
A referral from a Blenheim build partner brought Modal Architecture to an exposed hilltop farm site. From here, the outlook reaches towards the Marlborough Sounds and Cook Strait. Those views offered a strong starting point, but the design also had to account for wind, sunlight, farm access and the practical requirements of living off grid. A clear investment budget formed another boundary for the work.
We tested these relationships through site analysis before organising the house around a long gabled pavilion and an L-shaped plan. The composition gathers the accommodation and shared spaces around the pool, with a covered deck forming part of the outdoor living provision. The substantial guest component follows directly from the brief: family visits needed to be accommodated in the architecture from the outset.
The material palette combines corrugated cladding and roofing with vertical and horizontal James Hardie Stria, thermally modified timber and recycled timber trusses. Together, these elements establish the character of the pavilion and its adjoining spaces. Solar generation and batteries address the requirement for off-grid services without becoming the sole focus of the home’s story.
Builder involvement and pricing began early. This gave the design process a practical reference point, keeping architectural decisions connected to the budget rather than leaving their implications until later.
In the completed home, accommodation for children and grandchildren is part of the main idea from the outset. The plan gives family visits the space to extend beyond a meal into several days together, with the hilltop outlook shared by the people Ben wants to welcome.
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One roof links the garage, carport and Airbnb at Donovan, but the main home and guest accommodation look in different directions. That combination expresses the central aim of Jamie’s project: architectural cohesion alongside private occupation.
The commission followed the family’s earlier Orui home. This time, the brief brought a rural residence together with accommodation intended to generate Airbnb income. Both uses needed a place within the property, and neither could be treated simply as an afterthought to the other. The buildings needed to read together while giving residents and guests space to use independently.
Modal Architecture developed a common language of large overhangs, slatted timber and repeated posts. A continuous roof gathers the garage, carport and Airbnb into one composition, bringing consistency to functions that might otherwise appear unrelated. The roof is therefore an organising element as well as a visible feature.
The relationship between the two places to stay is handled differently. Orienting the primary home and Airbnb towards opposing outlooks gives each its own focus. This is the design’s principal privacy move: it retains a relationship between the buildings without asking the household and guests to share the same outward-facing experience.
The project also sits within a wider set of property decisions. Paper-road access, new gravel access and future subdivision planning are part of the project’s constraints. These requirements mean that the arrangement has to work beyond the immediate boundaries of the house plan, accounting for how the land is reached and how it may be used later.
Jamie’s rural home sits alongside independent guest accommodation that supports the property’s income opportunities. The roof makes the buildings’ relationship visible; their opposing outlooks establish how the household and guests occupy the property independently.
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A family home needs to accommodate more than the age its children are when the drawings begin. At Judgeford Hills, Phil and Alice wanted an arrangement that would remain useful as their children grew, with a shared centre and room for greater independence.
They approached Modal Architecture through an early online enquiry. Their rural site offered views across Porirua Inlet towards islands and the Marlborough Sounds, alongside exposure and the requirements of off-grid servicing. The project also had to work within a tight investment budget. These conditions shaped how much could be built and which parts of the brief most needed protection.
The house comprises twin gables linked by a central pavilion. This organisation gives common family life a clear place between the wings. The children’s accommodation can become more independent over time while retaining its relationship with the shared spaces. Adaptability is embedded in those spatial relationships, rather than left as a general promise about future use.
The way people move through the house also carries the landscape into the design. Main circulation routes frame the outlook, turning journeys between rooms into opportunities to see the surrounding country and distant water. The views therefore participate in the plan beyond the principal living spaces.
Pricing verification prompted a reduction in the footprint. We used that process to distinguish the amount of floor area from the architectural relationships that mattered most. The final home preserves the brief’s core: a shared family heart, an increasingly independent children’s wing and circulation that gives the setting a presence throughout the home.
For Phil and Alice, the home provides a way of living together that can change without losing its centre. Its organisation anticipates a family whose needs will develop, while keeping the scale of the project connected to the investment available.
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A short walk between two homes can change how a property accommodates guests. At Malaghan House, Rob and Katy wanted family and friends to stay close enough for shared celebrations, with a separate place to retreat during longer visits.
Rob and Katy wanted their established Dalefield property to accommodate family and friends during ski season and Christmas. Introduced to Modal Architecture by Flexi House, the brief called for additional accommodation that could operate independently of the main home. The task was to add that capacity while respecting the existing landscape and the relationship between hosts and guests.
The result is a compact, self-contained secondary dwelling within walking distance of the main house. Its independence is central to the brief. Visitors have their own base, while the distance between buildings remains small enough for shared time to form part of the visit. Hosting capacity comes from creating another place to stay rather than concentrating every activity in the main home.
Site visits informed the design’s relationship with established trees and views towards Coronet Peak. These existing features give the new dwelling its setting and help determine how it addresses the landscape. A dark exterior, warm timber and generous glazing carry that relationship into the home’s architectural character.
Quantity surveyor verification supported decisions during design. This provided a practical reference for the additional accommodation as the design developed, alongside the spatial questions of independence, proximity and outlook.
For Rob and Katy, the guest dwelling makes longer visits more flexible. Family and friends share ski-season stays and Christmas celebrations while enjoying a place of their own between gatherings. A short walk back to the main home brings everyone together again.
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Timber was the inspiration for Milford Beach, but it was not the answer to the owners’ maintenance brief. They admired an extensively timber-clad reference home and wanted to translate its character into a material better suited to their beachfront setting.
The starting point was an unrenovated 1970s house. A referral through Alastair of Warwick Gair Builders brought the project to Modal Architecture, with coastal exposure, planning controls and a limited investment budget relative to the work. The ambition required a material response that could hold the visual qualities the owners valued while addressing practical demands at the coast.
The home uses concrete made with timber board formwork. The boards leave their texture in the concrete, permanently transferring the visual character of timber into the surface. This gives the material decision a direct relationship with the brief: the inspiration remains visible, while the finished building uses a more robust coastal material.
The relationship with the beach is also shaped at the deck edge. Landscaping protects the outlook without conventional balustrades, keeping the coastal view central to the design. The treatment of that boundary makes the external spaces and landscape part of the architectural response rather than separate additions around the house.
Early contractor engagement helped balance the architectural character against cost and technical requirements. In a project with an ambitious brief and a defined investment limit, that involvement kept material choices connected to the implications of building them.
The result is a bespoke beachfront home with direct beach access and uninterrupted outlooks. Its most distinctive move comes from understanding precisely what the owners valued in their reference: the texture and visual warmth of timber. Board-formed concrete carries that quality into a home shaped around the coast and the amount of maintenance they want to take on.
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Jinal and Varun had outgrown their house, but not their street. Remaining in Brooklyn mattered to the family, and the project began with a straightforward question: could their existing home accommodate the next stage of their lives?
A referral from Matt brought the project to Modal Architecture, with an earlier professional connection between Jinal and Sam also part of its origin. The family needed better bedrooms and ensuites, greater privacy and a more generous communal heart. The response had to make those changes within an existing building whose structure, roof geometry and site levels all influenced the possibilities.
We opened the main living zone, giving shared family life a clearer centre. A leaking conservatory was removed and the roof rebuilt, addressing problems in the existing fabric as part of the wider renovation. These works were integral to making the house function differently, rather than a separate exercise in updating its appearance.
A split-level extension accommodates additional private spaces while negotiating the levels of the site. Bedrooms and ensuites give different members of the household more independence, balancing the increased openness of the communal areas. The garage was also enlarged and connected to the house, introducing internal access as part of the improvement to everyday use.
Joining these changes to the existing building required the new work to account for what was already there. The project retains the house’s street character, preserving a familiar part of the setting that the family wanted to remain within. Its larger capacity does not depend on abandoning the qualities that made the place home.
Jinal and Varun now have more room for privacy and a stronger shared centre, supporting the family’s next decade in Brooklyn. The completed extension gives them what the previous house could no longer provide, while keeping them in the street they did not want to leave.
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Two people and a large extended family ask different things of a house. At Orui, Chris and Janna wanted both patterns of occupation to work: everyday retirement at Riversdale Beach and holidays when several generations could gather under the same roof.
They were introduced to Modal Architecture during the business’s first three months. Their brief required substantial shared accommodation without losing a private place for the couple. The architectural task was to give those different uses a clear relationship, with enough separation for the house to remain useful when occupation changed.
Three wings are arranged along a common axis. One contains the private suite, another provides the central entertaining spaces, and the third includes an 8 × 8 metre games room with capacity for overflow sleeping. That large flexible room is a direct response to visiting family: recreation and additional accommodation can occupy the same part of the house at different times.
The centre provides the place where these uses come together. Its 3.2 metre ceiling and fireplace give the living space a distinct presence within the composition. The wings remain connected through their shared axis, while their separate roles make the substantial brief easier to organise.
Structure and coastal exposure informed the roof design. Large spans, slimmer side roofs and deep overhangs address the scale of the rooms and the need for shelter, holding the different parts within a coherent form. The architectural arrangement therefore follows both the way the family occupies the house and the demands of building at the coast.
Council praised the consent documentation and responses to requests for information, using the project as an example. Orui’s value lies in the change of scale it can accommodate: a private retirement home for Chris and Janna that also has room for several generations to stay, play and gather.
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Repetition is central to the Pauanui Apartments brief. Darius Group asked Modal Architecture to design the multi-residential component of Hillswater with the ambition of creating an investment product that could be repeated around New Zealand.
That wider purpose shaped the questions behind the architecture. A repeatable unit needed to contribute to a building with privacy, usable balconies and a clear identity. Investment targets, an offshore prefabricated structure, New Zealand consenting and peer review also formed part of the project’s requirements. The design therefore had to consider the logic of construction alongside the experience of occupation.
The building mirrors and stacks a repeatable unit into a three-level building with stairs and a lift. This establishes the underlying order. Curves soften the mass, giving the exterior a different expression from the repeated arrangement within it. A soft palette and light horizontal cladding contribute to the building’s character and the brief’s emphasis on reduced maintenance.
The elements between floors carry several responsibilities at once. They provide shading, privacy, support and weather protection, combining functions that could otherwise become separate pieces of the exterior. Around the stair, their form changes to define the entrance. The same architectural device therefore participates in the building’s amenity and in the way people identify its point of arrival.
Balconies form part of the accommodation, giving the repeated units an outward-facing component. Together with the privacy and shading elements, they help connect the efficiency of the building to the quality of the individual homes.
Darius Group’s development brings construction logic, maintenance and architectural character together. Residents have private homes with usable balconies, shading and clear access, while the repeated unit arrangement provides a basis for the client’s wider development ambitions.
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The decisive move at Prior House was to build less. Reassessing an earlier two-bedroom concept with a mezzanine led to a single-level, one-bedroom home, bringing the project into closer alignment with its investment purpose.
Lucy inherited the project through a change of property ownership. An unused yard in Lower Shotover offered room for a secondary dwelling and a potential income stream, but an existing design did not remove the need to question its scope. A stop-start programme added to the importance of establishing a clear direction.
Modal Architecture reviewed the original concept against the investment objective. Removing the mezzanine and second bedroom reduced the construction complexity associated with the larger scheme. The revised home retained the purpose of providing independent accommodation while asking less of the building itself. The benefit was in the relationship between what was built and what the project needed to achieve, rather than in maximising the amount of accommodation.
The dwelling takes cues from the existing house, giving it a relationship with the property it joins. This remains a compact addition within an established setting, with its architecture tied to that context rather than treated as an unrelated object in the yard.
Progress also depended on carrying information through the ownership transition. We coordinated consultant, quantity surveyor, builder and consent information so that the revised direction could draw on the work already undertaken. That continuity was part of making the project manageable after changes in ownership and programme.
The additional home gives Lucy independent accommodation on previously unused land, supporting her investment objectives. Removing the mezzanine and second bedroom has given the project a simpler scope, with the revised architecture focused on the purpose that justified building it.
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The beach was already there. What needed to change was the way a repeatedly altered 1960s home met it. At Raumati Beach, the owners wanted to renovate their permanent home for retirement while adding a private dwelling that could provide income.
The existing building had accumulated additions over decades. A problematic conservatory and overheating were part of the challenge, alongside the less visible demands of ground conditions and the coastal environment. Sea spray, sand and wind made the external materials and building fabric as relevant as the plan.
Modal Architecture began by simplifying the existing home. Removing the conservatory gives the renovation a clearer basis for organising the home around the beach. A western pergola introduces shade where it is needed, working with the deck to change the character and use of the beach elevation. The outdoor edge becomes part of the response to exposure and overheating, as well as a place to enjoy the setting.
The renovation includes robust coastal materials and upgraded foundations. Whitewashed plywood and exposed structural steel contribute to the architectural character. These elements sit within a renovation that addresses both the spaces people occupy and the fabric supporting them, rather than relying on a new surface treatment alone.
A second part of the brief required a different kind of intervention. The infill dwelling is elevated, with that decision accommodating parking while supporting views and privacy. Its arrangement makes provision for an additional household without treating the owners’ own amenity as expendable. The potential income use is therefore considered together with the quality of both places to live.
For the owners, these two pieces of architecture form a retirement strategy: a renewed beachfront home and a private additional dwelling. Together, they give the owners a more useful property for daily life at the beach, with separate accommodation that supports their retirement plans.
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Outdoor living at the coast depends on having somewhere sheltered to enjoy it. Seaside Escape takes that requirement as its organising idea, bringing a substantial permanent home around a protected courtyard at Waikanae Beach.
The owners were referred to Modal Architecture by Richard. They wanted a forever home with generous entertaining spaces and a relaxed pattern of daily life. The ambition was informal, but the architectural task required a precise relationship between privacy, shelter, daylight and coastal exposure.
The home places outdoor living at its centre. Masonry establishes a protective edge, giving the home privacy and shelter while supporting a more open relationship with the courtyard. This makes the enclosure purposeful: its solidity helps create the conditions for the outdoor life the owners want.
Timber, glazing and covered connections bring a different character to that framework. They soften the material experience and draw movement towards the places for gathering and relaxing. The home opens progressively around these spaces, so its scale is experienced through their relationships rather than as a single large interior.
The courtyard is therefore more than an outlook. It is part of the daily pattern of living, connecting the entertaining brief to the coastal setting. Covered links support the relationship between spaces, while the surrounding masonry gives the outdoor area a measure of protection. Each element contributes to the same central purpose.
For the owners, the design brings entertaining and quiet daily use into the same protected setting. Rooms, covered connections and courtyard work together, making the permanent home’s relationship with the coast something they can inhabit as well as look towards.
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The green in Fiona’s retirement home comes from her Kawasaki motorbike. It is a small but revealing detail in a project shaped around her own interests, future needs and wish to remain close to family.
Referred to Modal Architecture by Matt, Fiona planned a new home behind the existing family property. Her adult children could then occupy the original house while she retained an independent place nearby. The opportunity was about proximity without sharing the same home, with architecture supporting a different arrangement between generations.
The hillside made that ambition a question of levels and access. Excavation creates an oversized garage at street level, establishing a practical base for the building. A lift links it to the accommodation above, where generous circulation anticipates future mobility needs. These decisions place access within the structure of the design rather than leaving it to a later adaptation.
Retaining and services form part of the response to the site. Above the garage base, a simple external wrapper turns up the wall and across the roof, giving the house a clear architectural outline. Green cladding and the front door carry the reference to Fiona’s motorbike into that form. The home is therefore shaped by both long-term practical requirements and a specific expression of its owner.
Fiona recognised her vision at the first design presentation. That response is a useful measure of how closely the design connected the brief’s different parts: independence, family proximity, access, garaging and personal character.
Fiona now enjoys an independent home close to her children. The route between garage and accommodation accounts for future mobility, while the generous garage and Kawasaki green keep her own interests present in the home.
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There is no television in the upper living room at Windy Ridge. Tara wanted that part of her family home to be for conversation and people, with media activities accommodated separately. That choice gives the project a clear starting point.
Her online enquiry followed the purchase of an unused, poorly maintained property in Glenfield. The ambition was a bespoke family home, with an oversized garage and walls for artwork alongside its different living spaces. Established greenery offered the setting, while the site’s shape and terrain required attention to how the building would be reached.
Modal Architecture developed a single 240 m² home with four bedrooms, three bathrooms and two living areas. Separating the social upper floor from media spaces supports the brief directly. The arrangement gives the household different places for different activities, with the main conversation space keeping people at its centre.
The relationship between driveway levels and garage clearances was another defining part of the work. Resolving that access was necessary to accommodate the generous garage in the terrain. Compliance around a proposed spa also formed part of the design constraints, alongside the site’s shape.
Dark vertical Metalcraft Espan and timber establish the exterior palette among the existing greenery. Within, lighter interiors support a treetop feeling, bringing a different character to the elevated living spaces. The contrast is part of the experience of the home, with the surroundings present in how the interior is conceived.
Feasibility work and quantity surveyor verification supported decisions through design and delivery. Windy Ridge was Modal Architecture’s first Auckland new build, but its architectural purpose remains specific to Tara. The home organises family life around conversation, separate media use and artwork, with a living room whose most important feature may be what she chose to leave out.
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From the street, Standen Infill first presents itself as a garage. The additional home is revealed through the site, with a further storage level below. Understanding the building means reading its section as well as its frontage.
For Dean, this was the second stage of a property project that began with an earlier renovation. He wanted street-level garaging and storage together with a one-bedroom secondary dwelling for income. The accommodation also needed to retain possibilities for Airbnb or family use later.
Modal Architecture arranged these requirements as three stacked layers. The garage meets the street, the home sits below it and storage occupies the level beneath. This gives the different functions a clear relationship while keeping vehicle access at the point where it is needed. The arrangement makes room for more than the street elevation initially reveals.
Projecting gable ends give the upper levels their identity above a masonry base. Their form distinguishes the building’s upper parts within the layered composition, allowing the building to read as architecture as well as an allocation of useful space. The dwelling is part of that composition even where the first impression is of garaging.
Boundary controls, the vehicle crossing and foundations shaped the development of the scheme. Our involvement in Dean’s earlier renovation provided an existing understanding of the property, reducing the need to establish everything again. That continuity supported time and cost savings as the new stage was resolved.
Dean now has a property that combines independent accommodation with the garaging and storage he needs. A garage where vehicles arrive, another home within the site and storage below give the property three useful layers, with the accommodation able to serve different purposes over time.
