Through the ages

Graham Bull's contemporary house. Photo / Babiche Martens

New Zealand houses change with fashions and generations. From the simple workers' cottages and villas of the Victorian age through to bungalows and cutting-edge contemporary residences, houses have always been built to reflect the preferences of the time.

Increasingly, homes dating back to early last century or even the 19th century are being modernised to suit our current way of life. In reworking these structures there's always a healthy tension between preserving character and improving amenities. We talk to three design professionals about their own homes and how they've shaped them to suit both their particular lifestyle and personal taste.

VICTORIAN

Originally built around 1867, the Parnell home of architect Simon Carnachan has been thoroughly transformed since he first saw it seven years ago. "It was really dilapidated, had been really done in. It was a real shambles," he says. "This wasn't really a villa; it was a working man's cottage."

Homes from the Victorian and Edwardian eras have long been held in high regard by New Zealanders. "I think they're incredibly adaptable buildings and a lot of people have found that," says Carnachan. "They have high ceilings, nice spaces and some detail, charm and old-world appearance but the kitchens and bathrooms were pretty rudimentary. It's just general age that's the problem."

He lists insulation, structural, plumbing and electrical work as areas that typically need addressing.

Carnachan explains there was never anything pretentious about these homes. "It was a standard form of housing. Planning was pretty basic. It had a hallway down the middle, bedrooms off each side and a lean-to at the back with a bathroom and kitchen."

Whether to faithfully restore or completely reinvent is the usual dilemma for those intent on bringing their old villa or cottage up to date. "It depends on your taste basically. It depends on the sort of living you like, the sort of furnishings you like, the environment and surroundings you're more comfortable with."

In this case, a simple renovation wasn't going to deliver the open plan spaces and crisp contemporary aesthetic Carnachan craved for his urban Auckland bolthole and so the two-bedroom cottage was virtually gutted. The lean-to was demolished and serious excavation work undertaken on the sloping site.

Today two striking levels of concrete, glass and steel sit behind the demure single-storey street facade. "It's a pretty little cottage. Most of them have some finials and some fretwork. And that's what a lot of people like about them because you don't see that in modern buildings."

Inside, perhaps the only nod to its Victorian heritage is a central corridor which leads to a floor of glass that admits light to the lower level. A glass staircase leads down to a slick living zone complete with stainless steel kitchen; exterior aluminium louvres control light and privacy. "Nobody really knows from the street that this is here," says Carnachan.

BUNGALOW

Interior designer Prudence Lane has lived in her 1921 bungalow for 10 years. Her fondness for this type of architecture isn't purely personal; she also deals with them regularly in her design practice. "I work on a lot of bungalows because it's a really strong period in Auckland and they're everywhere, especially in areas like Herne Bay and Remuera," she says.

The bungalow's clean, strong lines are in keeping with Lane's understated and uncomplicated design philosophy, and allow her to implement both classic and modern treatments within a single home. "Transcending traditional through to contemporary - I can achieve it so easily with a bungalow."

Lane believes a bungalow's sitting room, study and library lend themselves to a more classic interior treatment. "We might keep the cornice detail, an old panelled ceiling or a simple ceiling rose," she says. "It's often easy to keep a night-time room that little bit more traditional."

But when it comes to the more relaxed and well-used family zone, she's inclined to look unapologetically to the 21st century for inspiration.

In her own home she's installed a sleek white kitchen on a floor of French oak - a timber she says is harder than either the kauri or rimu flooring typically found in a bungalow. "I'd be hesitant to get caught up in the actual period of time and therefore in trying to make sure everything is a classic."

While shunning the blinkered approach of a design purist, Lane is nonetheless always sensitive to the structure's original roots. "I always think you need to show respect for the period it was built and respect for the person who designed it so that you don't bastardise it," she says.

"Bungalow designers were so careful about proportion. They were so clever and thought out so much."

According to Lane, this type of house possesses many positive attributes including deep architraves, a three-metre stud and plenty of roof space. "They have good bones and tend to be well-built and constructed with really good materials." While grateful for their generally restrained level of ornamentation, she appreciates the judicious use of shingles such as beneath a bay window or up in a gable. "I like the layer of texture they add."

She admits the bungalow's typically enclosed structure is at odds with the current penchant for indoor-outdoor flow. "More often than not you'd want to open up the back because they weren't built for the sun, so they're not built for contemporary living," she says, adding that their strong side lines make it very easy to extend the rear of the house to achieve access to the outdoors and admit more sunlight.

CONTEMPORARY

In creating his own suburban residence, designer Graham Bull has tapped into the quintessential laidback Kiwi mindset. Comfort and conviviality were two key drivers when he designed the light-filled, largely open-plan spaces.

"New Zealanders love the outdoors and barbecuing and that sort of thing," he says. "So that's where I think something along these lines - that's quite open and has lots of doors and glass - works for those particular people. They want to relax. They might sit down outside with a glass of wine and watch the kids in the pool."

The box-like street facade, dominated by horizontal cedar cladding and a double garage door, gives little hint of the airy interior wrapped around a central courtyard that lies beyond. "We had to build the swimming pool first and then build the house around it because you couldn't get access afterwards."

A tiny circa-1900 cottage previously on the narrow Remuera site, was removed to make way for a contemporary home constructed a year ago from concrete, timber and glass. As the principal of Architecture by Graham Bull, he's well-used to designing residences to meet the requirements of other people and admits there was some pressure in essentially being his own client. "You strive to put the best you can in there. It probably helps teach you about budget constraints, too," he says.

West-facing floor-to-ceiling windows admit "plenty of light and sun and all those sorts of things." Bull has brought warmth and texture to industrial-style materials by continuing the exterior cladding of blonded cedar inside to create feature walls. "It helps soften it down a bit and not make it quite so hard and sharp. It's got a beachy sort of feel to it." He considers both informality and practicality to be a priority "especially when you're bringing up a family in it".

Bull says that modern architecture offers attributes - such as in-slab under-floor heating and instant gas fires - that heritage homes can't usually match.

"While traditionally houses looked inwards and focused on internal features such as a fireplace, this looks, and opens, outwards," he says.

"The outdoor space becomes part of your living space. We just like that style of living. When you come home after a busy day, it's somewhere where you can relax and just enjoy it."