On a tight, steep inner-city site, this four-storey home reimagines urban living with rare generosity, layering multiple outdoor living spaces and a rooftop terrace into its vertical form.
Almost midday: The overhead sun slices through bladed screening to cast palisade shadows onto a plaster entry wall. Alongside, an elegant timber bridge fords a dip in the land and leads to the front door. Nestled between neighbours and a suburban stream, this home in Kohimarama, Auckland, is a masterful manipulation of space in a material palette that speaks the language of its built surrounds — but tells its own story.
The charm of transforming a 1960s house soon faded in the harsh slap of an Auckland winter spent with three young children and buckets of paint. That’s when the owners, not long returned from living in Melbourne, asked architect Daniel Marshall of DMA for his thoughts. He delivered a clear-eyed interpretation of the expensive reality of renovation, then came up with the idea of moving the driveway to the southern edge of the 1780 square metre section — and subdividing.
“Dan made it sound simple. My husband loves a big plan, and I happily went along for the ride,” says one of the owners.
A five-year ride — but worth it. The multilevel dwelling that now tucks in alongside pōhutukawa, karaka, and a magnificent golden tōtara captures views across a jungle of rooftops to the dark trace of the Coromandel Peninsula on the horizon. Oriented for sun and sea, it’s light, resilient for family living, and, best of all, warm.
Yet, as modern Kiwi as this property looks from the outside, its bones are foreign. The owners had clocked thermo-clay brick houses on their travels through Spain and requested something similar. Here, Ziegel blocks from Germany — which they imported directly due to the complexities of constructing during the pandemic — became the framework.
“The clay blocks are quick to build with and have superb insulation,” explains Daniel, “but they did arrive with instructions in German.”
No worries. A German builder was found to assemble them. This was a theme set to continue. The same builder then lime-plastered the block walls in a Sto system (from Weizen, Germany, near the Swiss border). Triple-glazed joinery units (again German) with beautiful Nordic spruce frames completed the picture.
Daniel describes the layout as essentially two six-metre squares set around a central staircase that travels up three flights to a roof terrace. This belies the sweet complexity of the arrangement. Each space has a sense of connection and intimacy.
Entry to the living room is to one side of the stairwell, where a curved wall lends movement to the plan. The owners call it a “Daniel flourish” but, he says, the curve also serves a secondary purpose: to modulate the façade externally.
“It’s that idea of compositional play, and, on a sloping site, crafting angles to meet height-to-boundary restrictions.”
A narrow vertical window on the same elevation as that sinuous intervention ensures privacy, while to the north and east picture glazing puts the sky, cabbage trees, and the golden tōtara in the frame.
A short passageway leads to the kitchen/dining zone. Human scaled, it pairs the right measure of comfort and visual interest. A galley continues to a hidden scullery that ticks the box for functionality for this family of five, and modern-classic black Dekton benchtops team with American white oak cabinetry.
Daniel believes art is “a series of controlled accidents” — delightfully illustrated here, where happenstance mixes with the fully directed.
Surprises, too, are found in those places that were never meant to be heroes. A small gravel courtyard leading off the downstairs laundry and initially envisaged as an infill space is planted with citrus and feels European in flavour. A landing lounge with just enough room for a chair and a side table is a place to escape for a winter read. The roof deck, protected from the wind by the parapet, is a secret oasis of calm.
“It’s great when a house is not a one-liner and offers lots of different experiences,” comments Daniel.
Despite the constraints of the subdivided site, the architect has made the most of available space, with a stacked plan, allowing for a multitude of outdoor areas. At the lowest level is a European-style courtyard where citrus flourishes and regenerated native bush meets its edge where the land slopes away.
The owners, who are sustainability minded, appreciate the cross-ventilation properties of the high-level windows, and love the thermal performance of the construction methodology and the low-energy heat-pump boiler that runs the underfloor heating, warms the pool, and provides hot water.
Having underplanted the area around the stream with 500 natives, including rengarenga lilies that one of the owner’s mums nurtured specially, the owners are hoping to attract more birdlife to this populated corner of their suburb. The regenerated stream and its surrounding bush might be the perfect adventure playground for Easter egg hunts but the first time a kererū alights in the karaka will be cause for a true celebration.
Judges’ Citation
Built on a tight and steep inner-city site, this project demonstrates how careful design, intelligent planning, and confident architectural moves can transform limitation into opportunity. The architect considered the entire site, suggesting subdivision and verticality over unnecessarily large spaces.
The home’s interior flows seamlessly from one space to another, punctuated by moments of awe that balance openness with intimacy, while small details constantly ignite delight.
The use of thermally efficient Ziegel block construction, triple glazing, and carefully controlled ventilation delivers impressive environmental performance without sacrificing comfort or character.
Warm, solid, and quietly luxurious, the house stands as a confident flourish within the city — proof that sustainable thinking and architectural generosity can coexist on even the most compact urban sites.
Project Credits
Architecture: Daniel Marshall Architects
Build: Mario Koch
Words: Claire McCall
Images: David Straight, Hamish Melville
Joinery: Internorm
Wood Oil: Dryden
Furniture: Studio Italia
