Homes

Perched on an Oneroa hillside, this house belies its architectural rigour with an inherent ease. It is a place for bare feet and open doors; for slow mornings, warm afternoon sun, and conversations that linger long into the evenings.

The homestead at Mt Cardrona Station by Leuschke Group Architects takes its cues from the wool-sheds and mining structures of the Cardrona Valley, but the charm and uniqueness of the project lies in how those references are carried inside.

This mid-century property, known as Brightwater, is full of quirks — from its aerodynamic uplifted soffits to an underground doomsday bunker — so, when it came to designing a new kitchen, designer Katie Scott wanted it to be equally quirky and sympathetic to its original 1960s charm.

The 2026 Interior of the Year, designed by Auckland studio Material Creative, transforms a 1970s home in Vancouver, Washington into a richly layered, hotel-inspired retreat where bold colour, nostalgic glamour, and New Zealand design sensibilities converge.

On a rugged stretch of State Highway 1, part-way between Kaikōura and Blenheim, where steep hills fall towards the Pacific and weather shapes the land with force, Three Sixty Architecture has devised something entirely fitting — and particularly appealing.

A house by Crosson Architects on a former Ti Point farm draws on the volcanic geology and coastal curvature of the Rodney landscape to ground itself — robustly but lightly — in a place shaped by deep geological time.

Could there be a better design than a courtyard house to flex with the whims of the Auckland weather? Cue a double-courtyard design.

M is for ‘Martinborough’, for ‘monolithic’, for ‘minimal.’ In this holiday house, where the owners instil singular focus into everyday rituals, it is also for ‘moments to mark.’

The blue palette, carried seamlessly from interior to exterior, ultimately reads as its own neutral, while spatial reconfigurations throughout the home reclaim under-utilised volumes and deepen connections to the landscape and coastal aspect.

On Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, where wind-bent Moonah trees give way to sweeping views across Bass Strait and the distant Melbourne skyline, Norfolk Residence engages the landscape with an alluring confidence.

With a generous relationship to its streetscape, a rich material palette and an imaginative approach to the vernacular, this home by Roberts Gray Architects is a mature addition to Wānaka and the wider architectural vocabulary.

A low-slung, linear form recessed into the foothills of the Southern Alps. A semi-subterranean minor dwelling, and a family home that creates a strong and almost symbiotic relationship with the alpine landscape.

In the heart of Auckland’s wine country, this home by and for an architect explores an unusual premise: an architectural home delivered on a modest budget in partnership with a group home builder — and the result is intriguing.

Geometrically crisp against an organic backdrop, this Wānaka home is a confident expression; the result of clients who knew what they wanted and an architect who added the visual poetry.

An urban treehouse in the heart of Auckland, this project reimagines how architecture can engage with nature in a dense urban setting.

A sophisticated, elegant, and entirely relaxing gem that shines above Waiheke Island.

This home on Kāpiti Coast knows its place, not just as a shelter for its people but as a small part of a much wider whole.

Wedged into a cliffside beside the wild harbour of Wellington’s Eastern Bays, this year’s Home of the Year winner by Stevens Lawson Architects is a masterly object full of sculpture and craftsmanship, grandeur and human scale.