RIDGE HOUSE
2020 - 2022
Located in a small residential pocket of metropolitan Auckland, Ridge House is an addition and alteration of a simple 1890’s timber worker’s cottage. Sited within a Special Character housing zone, the long, narrow plot slopes to the South with views across to Maungawhau/Mt Eden (one of fifty-three volcanoes within the city confines). The project involved restoration of the original interior footprint , with replanning to accomodate the sleeping and bathing spaces, as well as a new extension to the rear of the cottage for shared living and a connection to the garden.
The new building form responds to the wider context and establishes a connection to the place: it opens through its centre, across to the neighbouring cottages with glazed openings - reestablishing the community qualities attributed to the street block before their individual boundary fences were erected late last century; and as the site descends to the rear garden, the building reaches out in dialogue with the land and volcano on the ridge adjacent.
Raw concrete masonry acts as an honest and robust base for the extension, with two linear walls spanning north to south above. These singluar forms constructed of a light-coloured brick referencing the clay earth of the area, provide a groundedness and weight to the extension, while mediating privacy along the side boundaries and framing an axial view of the mountain. A light-weight roof spans atop the walls following the line of the existing lean-to roof at the rear of the cottage. As the roof and ceiling descend with the topography, a secondary roof plane pulls back up with a window to the sky. From the worker’s cottage, the beautiful form of the volcano can be seen.
Internally, a series of floor level changes descending from the cottage and through the extension, create a sense of distance from the street. At each level change, stairs in the same earthy brick subtly reinforce groundedness and a connection to the land. Beyond the line of the interior, both the horizontal and vertical planes of the extension continue seamlessly into the garden, making the threshold more abstract. The act of transitioning through the plan also extends beyond - from an elevated deck, stairs lead to a patio nestled into the trees below. Here a collection of benches built of masonry block and capped with bricks made of clay excavated from the site are firmly embedded. From street to garden and inbetween, the history and presence of the place is experienced.
Awards: 2024 Auckland Architecture Award Winner, NZIA, and 2024 New Zealand Architecture Award Shortlisted, NZIA