Cost effective and designed to reflect the slope.
This project involved the redevelopment of seven existing houses by Housing New Zealand Corporation (HNZC) into 14 two-storey three and four bedroom houses.
HNZC wanted to provide new family accommodation for social housing in a very high demand area and replace small, ageing houses that were on large sites.
The existing houses were moved off, refurbished and became affordable housing stock in remote areas in the Far North and East Cape.
The key design goals were to create a medium density housing typology that would respect an existing historical suburban setting which is unlikely to undergo much change in the near future. To do this, the presentation of the houses to Duke Street had to be of a very high quality – the design had to resolve the slope, level changes and create private open space next to the street.
The project successfully creates a high quality design that fits into an existing neighbourhood of private housing, while meeting HNZC’s budgetary constraints for cost-effective low-maintenance housing.