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Stand-Alone House Design Ngā Whare Tūwehe

1. Site Design 2. Placing the Building 3. Street to Front Door 4. Outdoor Spaces 5. Accommodating Cars 6. The Building

1.1 Introduction
1.2 Work with the Site
1.3 Design the Site and House together
1.4 Respect the neighbours
1.5 Good quality infill development

2.1 Introduction
2.2 The spaces around the house
2.3 Privacy and outlook
2.4 Designing for the sun
2.5 Types of House

3.1 Introduction
3.2 Designing for neighbourhood character
3.3 Designing for safety and amenity
3.4 Creating privacy

4.1 Introduction
4.2 Provide for an outdoor lifestyle
4.3 Design for accessibility
4.4 Optimise your landscaping
4.5 Respond to the neighbourhood
4.6 Design for stormwater treatment

5.1 Introduction

6.1 Introduction
6.2 Building form and appearance
- 6.2.1 Building height and mass
- 6.2.2 Primary building elements and details
6.3 Weather-tightness
6.4 Building performance
- 6.4.1 Keeping the heat inside the house
- 6.4.2 Move the heat around, and ventilate the house
6.5 Planning for all ages and abilities

Details > Site Design >

Design the site and the house together Print

Design Outcome

Page Content

Design Checklist

The house and site are designed together

Creating the site cannot be done independently of designing the house. It is best to design the house, even in rough sketch form, when designing a site or subdivision.

Better Design Practice

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Design the house to the topography and incorporate retaining into the building.
This minimises the cost of earthworks and can improve the quality of the spaces around the building.

Provide level access to the front door wherever possible.
Allowing anyone, regardless of physical limitations, to be able to easily enter the building.

Consider using a common wall, or building to the boundary.
This is as an effective way of resolving the level changes between sites.

Minimise the use of highly visible large retaining walls.

If they are over a metre, they should be stepped and landscaped.

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Design any retaining to complement the overall landscaping.
Retaining can be effectively used to enhance a site.

Create flat outdoor spaces around the house.
Battering (creating a consistent slope) across the whole site creates unusable spaces.

Caption:

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Regulatory Note

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Position:

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Guidance Element:

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Minimise cut and fill.
Balance the need for excavating and replacing soil across the site to minimise the amount of fill that needs to be transported to and from the site. Use the slope of the site and building design to accommodate parking.

Rules of Thumb

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Case Studies

Addison, Takanini
Anselmi Ridge, Auckland
Arapai-Urale House, Auckland
Box™ Bassett Road, Remuera, Auckland
Brown Vujcich House, Auckland
Courtyard Houses, Seatoun, Wellington
Detached House, Remuera , Auckland
Lester Street, Hobsonville
Living Spaces, Dandenong
Preston Starter Home, Otara, Auckland
S House, Mount Eden, Auckland
Tagata Way, Mangere
The Block, on St Johns Road
Zero Energy House, Point Chevalier, Auckland

Related Resources

Design Statements - An Essential First Step to Good Design
Building a New Home - The Prebuild Process
Understand Auckland's Planning Rules
Apply Auckland's Planning Rules to a Site
Design for Auckland's Planning Rules

About the ADM
Contact Us

Welcome

To Auckland's Design Manual

The manual provides professional advice, step-by-step best practice processes and detailed design guidance. The manual will enable us all to make informed choice and build homes, and create new streets and neighbourhoods that not only look great but are built to last, sustainable and give best return on investment.

Click below to proceed to related design guidance

Disclamer:

The Auckland Design Manual provides supplementary guidance to the Unitary Plan on design matters, which will be updated by the Council from time to time. The Manual is not part of the Unitary Plan and the Unitary Plan doesn’t incorporate the Manual by reference in the terms of the provisions of Part 3 of Schedule 1 to the Resource Management Act 1991. While the Manual sits outside the Unitary Plan, advice notes are occasionally included in the text of the Unitary Plan to alert the reader to the existence of relevant guidance in the Unitary Plan.

Stand-Alone House Design Ngā Whare Tūwehe

Design the site and the house together Print

Design Outcome

Desi​gn Checklist​​​​​

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Creating the site cannot be done independently of designing the house. It is best to design the house, even in rough sketch form, when designing a site or subdivision. ​

Better Design Practice

Caption:

Regulatory Note

Regulatory Note

Regulatory Note

Image:

Carousel:

Design the house to the topography and incorporate retaining into the building. This minimises the cost of earthworks and can improve the quality of the spaces around the building.

​Provide level access to the front door wherever possible. Allowing anyone, regardless of physical limitations, to be able to easily enter the building.

Consider using a common wall, or building to the boundary. This is as an effective way of resolving the level changes between sites.

Caption:

Regulatory Note

Regulatory Note

Regulatory Note

Image:

Carousel:

Design any retaining to complement the overall landscaping.Retaining can be effectively used to enhance a site.

Create flat outdoor spaces around the house.Battering (creating a consistent slope) across the whole site creates unusable spaces.

Caption:

Regulatory Note

Regulatory Note

Regulatory Note

Image:

Carousel:

Minimise cut and fill.Balance the need for excavating and replacing soil across the site to minimise the amount of fill that needs to be transported to and from the site. Use the slope of the site and building design to accommodate parking.

Rules of Thumb

Case Studies

Related Resources

Welcome

To Auckland's Design Manual

Design Checklist

Creating the site cannot be done independently of designing the house. It is best to design the house, even in rough sketch form, when designing a site or subdivision.

Design the house to the topography and incorporate retaining into the building.
This minimises the cost of earthworks and can improve the quality of the spaces around the building.

Provide level access to the front door wherever possible.
Allowing anyone, regardless of physical limitations, to be able to easily enter the building.

Consider using a common wall, or building to the boundary.
This is as an effective way of resolving the level changes between sites.

Design any retaining to complement the overall landscaping.
Retaining can be effectively used to enhance a site.

Create flat outdoor spaces around the house.
Battering (creating a consistent slope) across the whole site creates unusable spaces.

Minimise cut and fill.
Balance the need for excavating and replacing soil across the site to minimise the amount of fill that needs to be transported to and from the site. Use the slope of the site and building design to accommodate parking.