Month: November 2021

It was on a Japanese ski trip that the owners of this Wanaka house came to appreciate the efficiency of small spaces. Staying in a compact two-bedroom vacation home in the mountains, they saw that a small, carefully designed house could be comfortable and pleasant to live in. Based in Singapore, the family of five took annual trips to Wanaka, usually staying with extended family in an existing four bedroom house on this lakeside site. The idea for Sugi House was conceived to allow for a degree of separation on their trips.

Who would have predicted that the spread of COVID-19 would drastically change our perception of the world, human existence, and space in 2020? In the small clinic where my father works, it is difficult to keep the general outpatient clinic and the fever outpatient clinic in separate lines, and since the summer of 2020, my father has been worrying about how to get through the winter without nosocomial infections caused by corona.

The north entrance faces a main road and features a wide, open space with high ceilings. The south end of the salon has a mezzanine level that rises 1580mm above the main floor. From the high windows, cutout views of the sky are visible. We designed this salon to take full advantage the space, which occupies the full length of the building from north to south. 

The BlackCliff House is situated on Canada’s west coast, perched on a granite rock rising 40 meters above the shoreline below. This location is a geographical “halfway” point for a dispersed family who are intermittently working and living on multiple continents. The home accommodates diverse living arrangements while connecting to the site’s abundant natural character. It is an expression of the client’s desire to create a gathering place for current and future generations while still being able to accommodate a smaller family unit.

Kirsty Niven’s boys both burst into tears when she and her husband, Tony, first showed them the Edwardian house they planned to make their home. “It was in a sorry state,” she says. “But all Tony and I could see was potential.” Niven, who runs Kirsty …