Architecture to enhance your life

This Great Barrier Island house is the perfect bolt-hole, a spacious yet simple space which sits with respect in its surrounding remote bush. It is just one of 32 projects featured in a new book - Crosson, Clarke, Carnachan Architects - which explores the award-winning works of the Auckland based architectural practice of the same name.

Partners Ken Crosson, Paul Clarke and Simon Carnachan have carved out a reputation for buildings which Tony van Raat, head of the Department of Architecture at Unitec Institute of Technology, says in the book's introduction, "set out to deliver a consistent view: that architecture can locate us elegantly and comfortably in the realm of nature".

From inner-city townhouses to baches on the Coromandel and homes in Wanaka, this book shows how good architecture can enhance not only the lives of its inhabitants but also the landscape in general.

• Crosson, Clarke, Carnachan Architects is edited by Stephen Stratford (Architectural Publications Trust $70).

- VIVA