​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​This speculative house was developed as part of the greenfield development at Hobsonville Point. There had been a formative design and planning process that led to the design of this house.

Hobsonville Point has been developed by Hobsonville Land Company – a wholey owned company of Housing New Zealand and as part of the planning process, a Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) was formulated that set out development controls and urban design guidelines.

Each of the blocks has been sold to a housing developer, in this case Universal Homes. The CDP is the directive to the developer as to how the development should be shaped in this block and on this site.

The architect commissioned by Universal Homes was asked to develop only the concept design for submission as part of the resource consent process. The developer undertook construction documentation- and hence the detailed design. As a consequence there is an emphasis on the higher level design outcomes rather than the detailed design. Cost, mass market appeal and weather tightness were important drivers. To appeal to as many buyers as possible, the design response was to consider how a range of different people might inhabit the house, with the solution being for flexible spaces – that are open plan and sized appropriately.