“Every room had to have views if we could,” says Tony Karsten of Karsten Architectural Design. He certainly delivered on this comfortable, airy and bright home on Walter’s Bluff in sunny Nelson.
It’s a two-storey build over four split levels, piling up the architectural volumes in interlocking boxes, but still fitting it all into a snug footprint, and all beautifully set off by the gentle silhouette of the gorse-clad hills behind it.
The ground floor consists of garaging, while two bedrooms and a laundry sit a little above it. The second storey contains a sunny, spacious open-plan kitchen and dining area, with the living area and master bedroom including ensuite and walk-in wardrobe on the upper split level to drink in the sun at day’s end.
A clever west-facing clerestory and cantilevered roof combination extracts every available possible view, and a covered sundeck off the living area’s western corner seamlessly expands interior into exterior with two bi-folding doors set into the floor. Indoor-outdoor flow was never easier.
“You haven’t really got a lawn, so you’ve got to add outdoor living somehow,” says Karsten. The steep site needed a sturdy concrete retaining wall to stabilise the bank and provide a level building platform on the steeply pitched section.
Karsten makes a masonry feature of the concrete blocks, continuing them around the base of the house to create a feeling of solidity and permanence. It brings just a hint of Frank Lloyd Wright to the build and provides a visual contrast with dark StriaTM Cladding by James Hardie painted with smoky grey-brown Resene Iron Sand, and plain, smooth, white plaster recesses. “One thing I always like to do is create a contrast of materials to add some interest,” he says.
Nelson is famed for its long sunshine hours. That and the briny breeze off the sea requires robust, durable building materials materials. The StriaTM Cladding is tactile like wooden weatherboards but far more rugged than most typical timbers, Karsten says. The designer fixed the boards in their vertical orientation to the upper floors, with the house’s windows and openings designed specifically to fit to the ends of the panels. “There aren’t many claddings that allow you to do a vertical profile like that. It makes everything simpler and cleaner.”
Elsewhere, VillaboardTM Lining by James Hardie is used to great effect on the ceiling of the covered sundeck. “It can be plastered to achieve a smooth finish.”
With this build the living is easy and done in style. The owners are very much in love with their Nelson home, says Karsten. “They say it’s a good place for a glass of wine on a Friday night too.” We can only concur.
This story was produced in association with James Hardie. For more stories and product information, click here.
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