The Kawakawa House is nestled in a pohutukawa grove. Photo/Patrick Reynolds.
The Kawakawa House is nestled in a pohutukawa grove. Photo/Patrick Reynolds.
A Piha home nestled among ancient pohutukawa has claimed Home magazine's Home of the Year.
Designed by Herbst Architects, the Kawakawa House is situated on a challenging site, typical of the hilly terrain in West Auckland's coastal regions.
The home, raised on steel poles and concrete service core, offers stunning views of the rugged Piha landscape.
"To make a house as good as this takes enormous skill, a sympathetic client and the guts to know what not to do," said Home editor Simon Farrell-Green in announcing the winner.
Farrell-Green said the Home of the Year isn't always determined by how expensive it is.
"Home of the Year doesn't always go to the house with the biggest budget," he said.
"It doesn't always go to the most obvious house, either – it's easy to love something beautiful. We wanted a house that was the perfect execution of a great idea and we found it in this one."
Kawakawa Bach by Herbst Architects is shaped like a square doughnut, with a sheltered courtyard in the middle. Photo / Patrick Reynolds.
He paid credit to the architects at Herbst for solving a complex challenge with this home.
"Faced with a challenging site surrounded with established pōhutukawa, the Herbsts lifted the whole house up to reach for the light and the view – from the living room there's a view of the sea and from the bedrooms there are incredible views of the surrounding forest," he said.
"It's a magical experience on an extraordinary site. We all loved this house. We loved how it sat on the site and how it worked and what it did. It's a wonderful house with beautiful spaces and a really clever plan, but it's also restrained and thoughtful – it's a viewing platform to look at nature, basically."
This is not the first time Herbst Architects has claimed the title, having also won it 2012 and 2016.
"We're really excited to see the Herbsts win again, their third, and we're delighted they also took our Best Retreat for this house and Best Interior for a second project, Lantern House on Waiheke Island," Farrell-Green said.
The house beat out six other abodes in the running for the 2018 edition of the competition.
In the 23rd year of the awards, three judges toured from Piha to Hanmer to Akaroa to scope out the best of the country's architecture.
Farrell-Green said he was "amazed" by the standard of architecture and design that was showcased in the details, and thought put into each entry.
"There were some obvious trends across the homes we visited this year, including but not limited to, the resurgence of courtyards, homes built for quiet retreat, a sense of home within an urban environment, lavish attention to detail and the demise of the garage."
