Takapuna: The art of seduction

This award-winning home makes an architectural statement on a grand scale. By VICKI HOLDER.

Recognised as perhaps the most significant achievement in New Zealand architecture, Congreve House on the Takapuna clifftop invades your senses like no other home. To explore its complex, rich layering of spaces is to experience a grand work of art where strong form and materials unite to seduce.

When it was built for Robin and Erika Congreve in 1993, it was a residential project of gargantuan scale, budget and construction time. As reward for his self-confessed obsession with the design, architect Pip Cheshire of Jasmax won a distinguished architectural design award. The home, which won a national New Zealand Institute of Architecture award in 1994, was recently voted National Business Review's top home.

Erika and Robin deliberately set out to create a home that made a statement about architecture in this country. It had to acknowledge New Zealand's multiple heritages, our strong land forms and clear convictions about architecture. The Congreves sought a grand, minimalist, concrete home that reflected the bold, massive styles of architects like Le Corbusier, Tadao Ando and Mario Botta.

The project was a painstaking collaborative process that came together as a result of a sure brief from the owners. The Congreves originally wanted to use cast concrete right through the house, but found it wasn't possible. So they opted instead for a mixture of cast concrete and bricks. However, they didn't like the ordinary size of bricks available so they had grey bricks specially cast. To achieve the effect they wanted they had several sizes made.

Having selected a very restricted palette of materials to give unity throughout - concrete, steel, glass or timber - decisions were easy to make. They didn't want any form of decoration unless it was part of the structural make-up of the home.

"We knew if we used the block walls we'd need to soften them, so we chose parquet for the floors and cabinetry. We wanted the entire strength to come from the materials and our paintings. We certainly didn't want fabrics, although we've added them because of the sun," says Erika.

She recalls the contradictory nature of their requirements. Not only did they want a grand house with plenty of wall space for hanging their art, but it also had to incorporate large expanses of glass for light and interact with the landscape. And they preferred an open-plan environment for large-scale entertaining.

Erika admits it was a difficult brief, "because walls, glass and open-plan don't usually work", she says. "But it does. It's strong, with a great feeling of permanence. It hasn't dated a bit, I don't think. And it feels incredibly spacious, but also very intimate. Pip has manipulated the spaces so you get enclosures like this [the casual sitting area] opening up to large spaces. He's done a brilliant job."

From the voluminous entry lobby of gallery-like proportions, you are drawn towards the light and sea view through a narrow passage that opens up to a massive living space with a 12ft stud and acoustic ceiling panels slung beneath slab soffits. Rangitoto Island, seen through floor-to-ceiling glass, is an imposing presence across the harbour.

Simple landscaping at the front of the property draws your vision out from the house across a cliff-edge weir pool that seems to merge with the sea. A sitting terrace was set below the lawn to avoid interrupting the view from inside.

To separate the formal living from the casual family area behind, a full-height, folding, sliding screen made of several curved panels draws across and screens the kitchen - a work of art in itself - from sight.

Sea views are also gained from the outdoor courtyard beyond the casual sitting area, albeit narrow glimpses seen through the house. Bordered by a spa and lap pool along one boundary and a loggia heading to a roof garden on the other, this area evokes the calm strength of an Italianate courtyard.

There are four large bedrooms, one with a secret entry. The master and guest bedrooms have en suites and dressing rooms. An air-conditioned, sound-insulated home theatre sits next to an office beneath the living area. The library features a massive curved shelving unit with an attached ladder that glides around for easy access to books. The pool house above the rear courtyard incorporates kitchen facilities and built-in gas heaters plumbed to gas lines.

Totally engaging, the Congreve House is a home worthy of celebration.

Vital Statistics

ADDRESS: 22 Winscombe St, Takapuna.

FEATURES: Award-winning concrete and brick home by architect Pip Cheshire of Jasmax; clifftop position above St Leonards Beach; large principal living area with 12ft stud; four bedrooms; three bathrooms; library; office; home theatre; ventilated seven-car garaging; spa and lap pool; entrance with grand curved staircase; pool house; American oak parquet floors; American maple cabinetry; Gaggenau kitchen appliances; underfloor heating; radiators in bedrooms; security alarm system.

SIZE: Land area 2314sq m; floor area 1012.63sq m.

INTERNATIONAL TENDER CLOSES: 2pm, December 11.

AGENTS: Jonathan Sissons and Deborah Kelland, Kellands Real Estate. Ph 302 2209 bus; Jonathan 021680 086 mob; Deborah 021 920 439 mob.