Nov 9

Nov 9 Looking good

abode Magazine

Architecture, Home, Innovation, Interior Design, Kitchen, Lifestyle, Materials, Style

In designing his own minimalist home in Christchurch’s Port Hills, Douglas Gibbons of All Good Architects focused on the spectacular surroundings.

WORDS Cassie Doherty PHOTOGRAPHY Sarah Rowlands

The bricks used in a corbelling pattern for the exterior cladding – more than 7000 of them! – are from Brickworks. They are Austral La Paloma in the colour Tenerife, a collection that’s inspired by Spain’s history of passion, colour and vibrancy.

On the slopes of Mount Pleasant in Ōtautahi Christchurch, this house is a perfect model of the All Good Architects ethos: a less-is-more approach with minimal materials and an easy aesthetic. Designed by Douglas Gibbons, founder of All Good Architects, in collaboration with his wife Daniella, who is also an architect, the project is their own home.

As is so often the case, the clean and contemporary simplicity of this new-build home belies the series of challenges that had to be overcome to get here. The first issue was the site. “This section was compromised with easements and as a build platform,” says Daniella. “It was a subdivision of another section, so it was a really complicated site to navigate.”

Says Douglas: “Access was a bit of an issue as well.” Then add in some troublesome excavation. “We had several weeks of rock-breaking. We had more rocks than we knew what to do with.”

Not to mention that construction took place during Covid-19 and its many disruptions.

But forget all that. As Daniella says: “The location is epic.”

It borders a reserve, with walking tracks nearby, it is sheltered from prevailing nor’easterlies, and enjoys a vast, ever-changing outlook. The 200sqm home on an Looking good 809sqm property ticks off everything on the couple’s very brief wishlist: three bedrooms, maximised views and (mostly) single-level living. “It’s just the two of us and the dog, so we primarily live upstairs, and downstairs there is a guest bedroom, bathroom and an office,” says Daniella.

Clever design has turned most of the site’s drawbacks into advantages, such as the gabion retaining, which makes use of all those excavated rocks, as well as revealing an honest reflection of the home’s location and structure.

Continuous over-frame wall insulation allowed Douglas and Daniella to reduce stud size requirements, as the house is externally insulated to maximise thermal performance. Some tricky finessing was required to perfect the corner glazing, where two different wall depths meet (to account for wind loading), and the couple are pleased with the picture-perfect outcome.

Successful architecture often relies on what you don’t see. For example, by integrating 5000 litres of stormwater detention beneath the deck, Aquacomb by Watersmart allowed the home to retain its clean design, valuable outdoor space and architectural intent, while quietly managing stormwater below. Its modular design gives architects the freedom to treat water infrastructure as part of the design solution, rather than a constraint to work around.

Forms and materials are simple. “We wrapped a majority of the structure in brick,” says Douglas, “and offset every row to create a corbelling pattern for a bit of texture.”

A considered mix of luxury and affordable fixtures and fittings saw the spatial planning designed around off-the-peg kitchen joinery, customised with thoughtful details such as a butcher block slab on the end of the island, made by Daniella’s father. “We wanted natural materials where possible,” she says of the oak, wool and concrete furniture and finishes. Glass balustrades welcome in the vistas, and the soft white walls bounce around the changing moods of the outdoors.

“The focus of the house is really about looking out of the house,” says Daniella, adding that every day in the house is a pinch-me moment. “It’s phenomenal.”

Douglas couldn’t agree more. “I don’t think I’ve lived anywhere so quiet. Coupled with the view, it feels like we’re on another planet.”