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Auckland Design Manual Auckland Design Manual
Auckland City Council Auckland City Council
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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
    • 2.5.1 Detached or 'stand-alone' houses
    • 2.5.2 Zero lot line houses
    • 2.5.3 Courtyard Houses
    • 2.5.4 Accessory dwelling
    • 2.5.5 Extended family 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
  • 5.2 Integrating parking, garaging and access with the street
  • 5.3 Parking options
    • 5.3.1 Parking beside the house
    • 5.3.2 Parking under the house
    • 5.3.3 Parking behind the house
    • 5.3.4 Parking in front of the house
  • 5.4 Designing the driveway, shared accessway or lane
    • 5.4.1 Designing for safety of children
    • 5.4.2 Driveways for rear sites and shared access-ways
    • 5.4.3 Lanes
  • 5.5 Garages as flexible spaces
  • 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

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

    The Block, on St Johns Road

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    Overview

    Five dated and dilapidated leaky houses from the 1980s are refurbished into energy-efficient, high-performing and modern homes.

    Project Summary

    Project Summary
    ​​​​​​​​​
    ​This impressive refurbishment involved the transformation of five medium-sized detached houses into contemporary homes. Delivered by Context Architects, the project was the subject of the television series “The Block” (Series 5, 2016).​

    Changes run more than skin deep, with sustainability woven into all aspects of the project. From solar panels and electric car charging points, to grey water recycling and the use of sustainable, durable materials - these homes are exemplars of sustainable design.

    While the external transformation of the buildings is the most striking aspect of the project, look a little closer and you'll see that clever landscaping plays a subtle but equally important role. Functional outdoor spaces have been created to give the site a sense of openess and community. At the same time, the design offers high levels of privacy for the occupants and subtle boundaries between houses have been created through the use of low retaining walls, pergolas, fencing and native planting.​

    Download The Case Study

    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
    • To Our Blog
    • Contact Us

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    Auckland Design Manual

    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

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    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.