Home of the Year 2013: our new cover

<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">We're delighted to announce that the winner of the Home of the Year 2013 is the beautiful Headland house on Waiheke Island by Stevens Lawson Architects. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">A photo by Mark Smith of the home's main bedroom, located in one of its three curvaceous pods, graces the cover of our special Home of the Year issue, which is on newsstands from Thursday April 4. </span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc5glbNvdxZu4t6WokuHE0rf0Tki0D7FkLeJDpoNJFGJLO7IeTxsrPQPTiwZWZkBUWCquuKYuXkVTdSkzcMLiQNFVkjqWdkUU7BMkhy-M27YDqrm_Bz5N-WYqb4Llzc_43q2yM2Pa-hTw/s1600/HE0413_Cover_NoBarcode.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc5glbNvdxZu4t6WokuHE0rf0Tki0D7FkLeJDpoNJFGJLO7IeTxsrPQPTiwZWZkBUWCquuKYuXkVTdSkzcMLiQNFVkjqWdkUU7BMkhy-M27YDqrm_Bz5N-WYqb4Llzc_43q2yM2Pa-hTw/s640/HE0413_Cover_NoBarcode.jpg" width="494" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Also in our Home of the Year issue: five amazing finalist homes in Auckland, Whanganui, Nelson, Christchurch and Wanaka. It's a great diversity of design which we're very proud to showcase for you in print for the first time. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">We'll post a short web film of the winning home on this site soon - stay tuned!  </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">This is the fourth time Stevens Lawson have won the Home of the Year award. Our congratulations to Nicholas Stevens, Gary Lawson and their team, who collect the $15,000 first prize. And, as always, our thanks to our Home of the Year partner Altherm Window Systems for their ongoing support of the Home of the Year award.</span>

Home of the Year 2013: our new cover

We're delighted to announce that the winner of the Home of the Year 2013 is the beautiful Headland house on Waiheke Island by Stevens La...

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Getting heavy

There is an honourable tradition in New Zealand home design that strives for lightness, of timber homes resting lightly on the land. I remember my French teacher at high school saying that when she returned to New Zealand after many years in France, the homes in New Zealand looked as if they could all blow away in the next breeze.<br /><br />One of the finalists in this year's Home of the Year award makes a case for the European sort of solidity my teacher was referring to. The house is by Stevens Lawson Architects (who won the award with their house by Lake Wanaka, which you can see in an earlier post), built for clients who requested concrete for its heft and its low-maintenance qualities. These photographs by Mark Smith show just how solid this home turned out to be. It is located on a harbourside site in Auckland's eastern suburbs. The elevation below faces the water, with the main bedroom on the upper right, the kitchen and dining space below it, and a covered sitting area extending off the living room on the left-hand-side of this image:<br /><br /><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527303431820226338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuq_3YJzpy1uAOudREnyH4a0SOQJPC3HxeDK-QAMXRCcZqw7j04CP5WryxKia1zYuvG2PfIzchV4cvGASN0THGNGzQv0aAUEkwDpiuQGw-ss8HghJg1NZhofkD4ClVd1VVH1_nMmEPp6V6/s400/Glendowie+24.02.10+CF028208p.jpg" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" />The house is just as sculptural at the entrance, at the bottom of a very steep driveway. This shot gives you a good view of the central 'canyon', a glass-topped, double-height hallway that drags light into the centre of the home. (The house is located beside a slope to the north that blocks sunlight for a few hours in the winter, hence the design of the glass-topped volume to admit more light).<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRHg0706ZbhDXS-HLToHrCfJcO5ALIO1Yv9NyCB0H8eMGfel6Ev8oTt71-wD79FPDgRjJX4NDrz09mgV8XAhSjHBUtYFNRhb-eds7QC2_eo1d5tbtuwEEh87oIL4rdbuG9cuX2t5MGKkj3/s1600/Glendowie+extras_CF035693p.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527303572521517298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRHg0706ZbhDXS-HLToHrCfJcO5ALIO1Yv9NyCB0H8eMGfel6Ev8oTt71-wD79FPDgRjJX4NDrz09mgV8XAhSjHBUtYFNRhb-eds7QC2_eo1d5tbtuwEEh87oIL4rdbuG9cuX2t5MGKkj3/s400/Glendowie+extras_CF035693p.jpg" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>The home was designed using pre-cast concrete panels that feature ribbed details best viewed in this shot of the southern elevation:<br /><br /><div><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527303434311847026" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWOGfGYncEjCUgCDTwzwJTWfxfqJqJwDJZrIjUCA46jFGcVMSrmwLX0uHXNjlOTGu4ymEJ8DyEGMwg55ZX0zXYbZn63hRP3mSSD-RBEKtRiU517Z1OUNeQwVHCQsURI9JApjg_SYehWrm-/s400/Glendowie+24.02.10+CF028295p.jpg" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" />The monumental exterior means some of the interiors are just as dramatic. This view shows the inside of the 'canyon' with its glass-topped roof. The timber feature is a 'bridge' across this double-height space. </div><div></div><div><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527303441203003458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgluAb6AW_V8aWzieCOSZh0Zx515b93q4j3yumtLfCKoxfSU7_9rkeeXveUlMukhcXJ-F0Ya56PFlGGLrbtVDz3lMnf3ACEqVNnAcaAmCzemY6yrcvpM1QPFZp4kEs4RUUGNBmQogB_CKcf/s400/Glendowie+24.02.10+CF028369p.jpg" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" />This shot looks from the dining area across to a living room which in turn opens onto the covered exterior sitting area you can see in the first shot of this post. Inside, the material palette has been kept to a simple combination of timber and concrete with slate floors. </div><div> </div><div></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQdXH_km1iY_NEUZuq3utN8z-6kXqLcggTvYNqepgFK8v4IPZev4PvI_gdQU-tDL6CPQa92uKijHqHHBs5kzd0ddKBqrKayQ7KBp0z3CSc46FdnKHArpzP9LjoWRUVoW7RN0x8qnRG2AMI/s1600/Glendowie+extras_CF035677p.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527303445813285858" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQdXH_km1iY_NEUZuq3utN8z-6kXqLcggTvYNqepgFK8v4IPZev4PvI_gdQU-tDL6CPQa92uKijHqHHBs5kzd0ddKBqrKayQ7KBp0z3CSc46FdnKHArpzP9LjoWRUVoW7RN0x8qnRG2AMI/s400/Glendowie+extras_CF035677p.jpg" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>Some of the rooms feature surprising and dramatic devices for admitting light, such as the space in the shot below, which can be used as a home theatre or a snug, cave-like hideaway (there is also a slow window looking out to the water just out of the right-hand-side of the frame). The home may seem intimidatingly hefty from the outside, but as you can see, the interior offers a wide range of views and experiences. </div><div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjadJWBO3fX62eDc4xrpwmUblbM7HF-1XsMjdjNFaMzaXqkNKfl_NTrmYWepDaP4Gqny2nwt7CX1GjKOdXm7BrArggJWOGlH2aSzesRQFpXECefSe1FIsx4Xr7uMbT19gmVZrdGLx4W8YSq/s1600/Glendowie+extras_CF035660p.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527303440698691298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjadJWBO3fX62eDc4xrpwmUblbM7HF-1XsMjdjNFaMzaXqkNKfl_NTrmYWepDaP4Gqny2nwt7CX1GjKOdXm7BrArggJWOGlH2aSzesRQFpXECefSe1FIsx4Xr7uMbT19gmVZrdGLx4W8YSq/s400/Glendowie+extras_CF035660p.jpg" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" /></a></div></div><br /><p>So there you have it - an unashamedly heavyweight house. Sure, it runs contrary to the New Zealand timber tradition, but its engagement with the uniquely New Zealand landscape around it means it doesn't feel as if this is anything other than a New Zealand house. </p>

Getting heavy

There is an honourable tradition in New Zealand home design that strives for lightness, of timber homes resting lightly on the land. I remem...

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More shots of our winning house

One of the best things about having a blog is that we can show images here that we weren't able to shoehorn into the magazine. So here are some more views of our Home of the Year 2010 by Stevens Lawson Architects, a beautiful house in a beautiful landscape. All the photos are by Mark Smith. This one shows the view south over the house to Lake Wanaka.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7BfB6S2s6v95sMFTtP5Gw0Gz9Lu4vIvOas-8pNbrAy5YtE_Wxk9QLt56B-z4BCXbnu-fGZkH-ymUc72xytJdSeLYaeIltKmUZjX1adslRQJCKqacW9g1n2Nbt-166ryT4UJhdBstyF5hn/s1600/View+of+lake+and+eastern+facade.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501786637707158834" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7BfB6S2s6v95sMFTtP5Gw0Gz9Lu4vIvOas-8pNbrAy5YtE_Wxk9QLt56B-z4BCXbnu-fGZkH-ymUc72xytJdSeLYaeIltKmUZjX1adslRQJCKqacW9g1n2Nbt-166ryT4UJhdBstyF5hn/s400/View+of+lake+and+eastern+facade.jpg" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>And this one looks over the house to the west, with the Treble Cone skifield just out of frame.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTyWwDvXXZyZUMEoTL_Z_NR-EYxauI3SVPMrbXFopnpUP8IFyEQr0CHMI5yyT-6hmkoL5ymWdFsz8XvnDbCzBnlbOSvWp6bkJI-0iw2dBdBmrNazumcZDUIxDh_OajQVKV6gJVCplFUsxp/s1600/Ext+with+mountains.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501786641444871442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTyWwDvXXZyZUMEoTL_Z_NR-EYxauI3SVPMrbXFopnpUP8IFyEQr0CHMI5yyT-6hmkoL5ymWdFsz8XvnDbCzBnlbOSvWp6bkJI-0iw2dBdBmrNazumcZDUIxDh_OajQVKV6gJVCplFUsxp/s400/Ext+with+mountains.jpg" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>Here's a night view of the home's western elevation, with the kitchen space opening onto a courtyard. The room at the left of the picture is the main bedroom. </div><div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg640T_l_LabFJ1O7qQN6vW9_HhOAXilLhKNz-7t-GssYivu-93iFk26Ap0qQ71KY_xWYmeED26EgOBa3CqjBNAnXyQrqeS5rOitdqLo2HBUa9rdBhtd8nfYhVYn5adLO5nCWIuDXy8BXDR/s1600/Eastern+elevation+at+night.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501786625131334338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg640T_l_LabFJ1O7qQN6vW9_HhOAXilLhKNz-7t-GssYivu-93iFk26Ap0qQ71KY_xWYmeED26EgOBa3CqjBNAnXyQrqeS5rOitdqLo2HBUa9rdBhtd8nfYhVYn5adLO5nCWIuDXy8BXDR/s400/Eastern+elevation+at+night.jpg" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>And here's a view southwest over the lake, which clearly shows the way the architects designed the home's cedar skin to wrap the walls and the roof. (For those of you wondering how a wooden roof works, it conceals a waterproof membrane underneath it, and is constructed in removable panels to allow easy maintenance of the membrane if necessary). </div><div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfuVkXTxG44GQ31IhCn9MUr1QUW6F4OAia2O0G6bHVr3_xM_DuaIEorY5DYngaXp1CHBVuDhXFUOvjif1_zkrpnX8buqkm6Yytdr5suwmP3FxIKeI6fqJe3HXHNkE2Az-iyx3-Z33tebbZ/s1600/Big+view+over+roof+to+lake.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501784163479755170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfuVkXTxG44GQ31IhCn9MUr1QUW6F4OAia2O0G6bHVr3_xM_DuaIEorY5DYngaXp1CHBVuDhXFUOvjif1_zkrpnX8buqkm6Yytdr5suwmP3FxIKeI6fqJe3HXHNkE2Az-iyx3-Z33tebbZ/s400/Big+view+over+roof+to+lake.jpg" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" /></a></div></div></div><br /><p>We'll post more outtakes of the other Home of the Year finalists over the next few weeks. </p>

More shots of our winning house

One of the best things about having a blog is that we can show images here that we weren't able to shoehorn into the magazine. So here a...

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Garden outtakes

One of our favourite annual features is our Landscapes special, which we publish every February. This year, as usual, we found a fantastic range of gardens established by people with very different philosophies of gardening. Architect Pete Bossley and his partner, artist Miriam van Wezel, favour the highly considered and structured approach, which has resulted in a garden of elegant restraint at their home in the Auckland suburb of Westmere.<br /><br />These photographs are by Mark Smith.<br /><br />Here's a view of the garden and its pond, which also shows the clever way it borrows views of neighbouring foliage, making for a park-like outlook.<br /><br /><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5441906372086961330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhGDJsOXWO_7P7PfslHVWGf-a054OsQvbjI3pAOHS8hB954u2JrB6hCFVDwGo58dhruw5OO_SBRd9lL1SuIAYCFvtLpk45PZEMJNka1NoeDnd-u3-v4GiW5RdkPwufF1k7G5BjqWjAYQjP/s400/Pete+and+Miriam+CF027002p.jpg" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" /><br />This shot shows Miriam in one of her favourite spots, a concrete bench with a view of the garden that retains solar heat, making it a warm place to sit on cooler evenings.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIvk0_oMppixEusXSN2LryhDKYc8W7-LpSe_ULDnoVj3IPSFhETfLoEArcQ3ewFsuscrFnSKH5yLxE5JaG9_BWcz6ni5-bY1KO0jdOrNBuJGlgtcVM9GJqUqpHXBv2ylB_s6_GXUcDR1o2/s1600-h/Pete+and+Miriams+CF026943p.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5441906391833045682" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIvk0_oMppixEusXSN2LryhDKYc8W7-LpSe_ULDnoVj3IPSFhETfLoEArcQ3ewFsuscrFnSKH5yLxE5JaG9_BWcz6ni5-bY1KO0jdOrNBuJGlgtcVM9GJqUqpHXBv2ylB_s6_GXUcDR1o2/s400/Pete+and+Miriams+CF026943p.jpg" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" /></a> The garden is on a sloping site, which Pete and Miriam have carefully divided up with a series of small retaining walls that also manage the way people walk through the area. Pete is a master of moving people elegantly through spaces in his architecture, so it makes sense that he applies the same philosophy and rigour in his garden.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeQ77KfmzF_8errFMDx265BwZk_WiLUmNyVs8qkFFYnShGb4_yuTQtqCgr8LAkjWs-C96jb8-YP-AZ6nYn3VT9lw-hy27XwEAcGeMLGoYAZbPws4FVhoyZCv1yAzmhQX2zA6nQfPzEf0IS/s1600-h/Pete+and+Miriams+CF026879p.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5441906382887833506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeQ77KfmzF_8errFMDx265BwZk_WiLUmNyVs8qkFFYnShGb4_yuTQtqCgr8LAkjWs-C96jb8-YP-AZ6nYn3VT9lw-hy27XwEAcGeMLGoYAZbPws4FVhoyZCv1yAzmhQX2zA6nQfPzEf0IS/s400/Pete+and+Miriams+CF026879p.jpg" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" /></a> </div><div>And I put this final shot in for Pete, who complained the other day that we didn't show enough of the oioi reeds that dominate their front yard, one of his favourite parts of the garden. We don't have a shot of the whole front yard, but most of it is covered with these reeds, which Miriam has tied up in ponytails like you can see in this photograph. </div><div> </div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh82zuE4R5yBLzfG5DCBlUjy4JbFOIIvZlUGdCD1k7in6ElQFv475TACDRRJ_NkgpuyzY1ASlatXfv_JCYuaJ1KrsxJkemLCSNUlHeSadcvL4ZcVukuOjqozr9xYajOR_oNIYDWSTsHBh52/s1600-h/Pete+and+Miriam+CF026993p.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5441906369213421378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh82zuE4R5yBLzfG5DCBlUjy4JbFOIIvZlUGdCD1k7in6ElQFv475TACDRRJ_NkgpuyzY1ASlatXfv_JCYuaJ1KrsxJkemLCSNUlHeSadcvL4ZcVukuOjqozr9xYajOR_oNIYDWSTsHBh52/s400/Pete+and+Miriam+CF026993p.jpg" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" /></a></div><br /><p>We'll run more outtakes from other gardens featured in the current issue in the coming days. </p>

Garden outtakes

One of our favourite annual features is our Landscapes special, which we publish every February. This year, as usual, we found a fantastic r...

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Fashion and architecture

You may or may not care, but this week is Fashion Week, so here at ACP headquarters (the home of Fashion Quarterly, and other fashion-obsessed magazines) there has been a great kerfuffle about who's scored tickets to which designer's show, and so on.<br /><br />Here at HOME New Zealand, we cannot claim to be above the fray. In our next issue, which we're just sending to the printers today (and will be on sale Monday October 5), we've asked 11 New Zealand fashion designers to choose their favourite buildings.<br /><br />Kate Sylvester (shown below) chose a home designed by Stevens Lawson Architects that won our Home of the Year award in 2007. The photograph is by Mark Smith.<br /><br /><br /><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384114934234639106" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyphenhyphen_GzW__vYACjInO-mFkE-F3lE_EvbEJ1JfvCw3iqn85kV4bWmXDawmXp8XpkSCV0D2kEerLR0DLCezLB-ghQGHiyfG0lXUGU5vlk-J0PYjOj3M_UhyIh7xnbYq0wBBTCRqnAM6AI-fM0/s400/HOME+New+Zealand+Oct+Nov+09+Fave+Buildings.jpg" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 258px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" /><br /><br /><br />The surprising thing was how many of the other designers - who include Karen Walker, Trelise Cooper, Beth Ellery and Alexandra Owen - chose historic buildings as their favourites. We presumed that these of-the-moment designers would be obsessed with contemporary structures. Then we wondered if timelessness actually stems from a design being of its time, rather than trying to stand apart from it.<br /><br /><br />You can check out the other designers' choices when our October November issue comes out. We hope you enjoy them.

Fashion and architecture

You may or may not care, but this week is Fashion Week, so here at ACP headquarters (the home of Fashion Quarterly, and other fashion-obsess...

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