Beauty on a BUDGET
This modest new build proves that less is more. Kim Dungey reports.
HOME ownership is out of reach for many New Zealanders but a young Dunedin family has escaped the rent trap by building a home on a budget.
Their twobedroom Portobello house with views of Pudding Island and the Port Chalmers skyline cost $175,000.
And with an eye to the future, owners Isaac Hensman and Chloe Ritchie have already framed out openings for a second stage that they plan to complete within the next few years.
The couple and the elder of their two children moved from Auckland to Dunedin in 2014 with no plans to enter the property market. But after only one Saturday looking at rentals, Ms Ritchie found a northfacing plot of land a fiveminute drive from her childhood home on Otago Peninsula.
Mr Hensman says they immediately fell in love with the treelined section.
‘‘Initially we were just looking for a place to rent, and then we realised that with not too much more [money], we could potentially pay for a mortgage.’’
Before long, they had enlisted the help of Ian Booth and Robin DuvalSmith, of Insite Design, who say the tight site and strict budget called for a small footprint, attention to detail and carefully chosen materials.
The challenge was to design an affordable home that functioned well for a young family but had a point of difference. The most distinctive feature is its shape — the long 17.5degree monopitch roof joins a sloping back wall to transform a simple form into something more dynamic.
The entry, kitchen and dining area run eastwest across the middle of the house, with fullheight glazing at both ends visually expanding the space into the garden. The doubleheight ceiling and use of ply material on walls and ceiling gives a surprising sense of spaciousness in a house with a ground floor of only 60sq m.
By contrast, the living area at the front has a lower, exposedjoist ceiling.
Fiveyearold Ida and 18monthold River share the bedroom on the ground floor. The other is upstairs at the apex of the building, oriented towards the sun and the water.
While the owners were focused on affordability and maximising the available sunshine, they also wanted the home to have clean, simple lines and ‘‘a bit of personality’’.
Exposing raw materials, such as lining fasteners and ceiling joists, was a conscious design decision that also resulted in a more economical build.
However, escalating costs have delayed some elements, including ‘‘sculptural awnings’’ off the sides of the house and a balcony at the front, off the master bedroom.
❛ It’s definitely not just a house that’s been
picked out of a catalogue. The way we’ve designed it is for
us
Homeowner Chloe Ritchie
The couple do not mind that the MDF walls are not gibstopped, as plasterboard would be, saying they are happy to use strong, affordable materials that are practical for a young family.
In the second stage of the project, a smaller but similarshaped building will be constructed to one side of the house to provide extra living space, a work space and one or two more bedrooms. The two structures will be linked by a 2mlong bridge at the upper level and by a deck below. Doors and windows are already framed; the two roofs will slope in opposite directions.
The designers say it is important for owners of small homes to have the option of extending and for it to be ‘‘something attractive, not just an addon’’.
The pair recently read that building materials here cost significantly more than in Australia, and that New Zealand is the secondmost expensive country in the world in which to build. Their advice to those on a budget is to think small and to avoid highcost finishes and expensive ‘‘extras’’.
‘‘People are bombarded by imagery in magazines and on TV of amazinglooking places and fancy kitchens. We quite like to step outside that ambit,’’ says Mr Booth, adding that the owners possibly could have built something cheaper on the same footprint but the doubleheight space at the centre of the home makes it ‘‘better to live in’’.
‘‘The ability to create a sense of space in a very small footprint is a large part of what
good design is about,’’ Ms DuvalSmith adds. ‘‘Using materials that are comparatively inexpensive in an honest way, instead of trying to disguise or cover them, is another aspect of making a build affordable. Paring back helps with costs and people learn there’s a nice aesthetic in seeing the structure of their home.’’
Ms Ritchie says while some parts of their house are ‘‘a little bit makeshift at the moment’’, a lot of love went into its design.
‘‘It’s definitely not just a house that’s been picked out of a catalogue. The way we’ve designed it is for us.’’
It was also a good alternative to buying a house and renovating it over a long period of time: ‘‘It’s always warm and dry. It’s got a really nice feel and we don’t have to do anything to it.
‘‘Some people who saw the section said ‘you can’t build a house there for a family — you’ll need an underground garage and a rumpus room’ [but] people all around the world live in spaces smaller than this.
‘‘And if it’s a matter of whether you build or don’t build, getting rid of a rumpus room is not really the end of the world.’’