What defines Kiwi architecture?
Design for the next decade – think sustainable, small, co-housing and ‘naked architecture’, writes Colleen Hawkes.
Talk to architects about where their work is headed over the next decade and they all get very serious.
With climate change and the health of the planet foremost in everyone’s minds, it’s not the controversial visual stuff that gets talked about today; it’s sustainability and the environment. The country’s ongoing housing crisis ensures affordability is right up there, too.
And what does the future hold? In a nutshell, we can expect to see more certified Passive Houses that reduce energy needs to almost zero, more sustainable materials and design, greater use of solar power, more prefabrication, lots of different housing options – and an increase in smaller, lowmaintenance homes.
Christchurch architect Mitchell Coll believes building small is the most sustainable thing we can do – apart from not building at all. His own multi award-winning townhouse project is a perfect prototype for ‘‘small’’.
Each of the two townhouses on the city’s Madras St, including the one he lives in, is just 74 square metres.
‘‘We need to stop wasting resources and the construction industry is the worst,’’ he says. ‘‘With the right design a small house can feel very spacious.’’
Happily, it turns out we are building smaller homes already. Statistics New Zealand says the floor areas of newly consented homes have shrunk by just over a fifth as cities ‘‘densify’’ in response to the housing crisis.
The average floor area of consented homes last year was 158sqm, which is 42sqm smaller than the peak of 200sqm in 2010.
And it’s not down to the rise in apartment living. Stats NZ said the drop was mainly due to a drop in the size of standalone houses.
This is no surprise to architect and Grand Designs NZ presenter Chris Moller, who is predicting a ‘‘new kind of minimalism where less is more’’. ‘‘The average size of a house in Europe is tiny compared to New Zealand, but our needs are not greater. The difference is they use their cities more effectively. Over there, the city is an extension of your dwelling.
‘‘Tiny homes are symptomatic of the need for affordability. We will see many more smaller homes over the coming decade. People want a home that’s economic and lean to look after and run, and we will see a much tinier footprint.’’
Moller says there will always be a place for bespoke, handcrafted houses, but they will make up a smaller percentage of our homes.
Christchurch architect Craig South of Allfrey + South Architects says his clients are already starting to think about smaller homes, and sustainability has been normalised.
‘‘We are designing homes that go way beyond the building code in terms of insulation and thermal efficiency. Potentially, [certified] Passive Houses will become the norm.’’
South also notes that there will always be a certain demand for large houses, but it’s essential to make these as sustainable as possible. And he says he gets frustrated when people put in extra bathrooms they don’t need because they are thinking ‘‘resale value’’.
Adaptability is key
Mitchell Coll’s two townhouses are not only small; they also highlight ultimate adaptability. The architect elevated both townhouses so they can be relocated easily.
‘‘The two houses sit on just eight piles, so it would be easy to jack them up and get a truck underneath.’’
And the reason he did this is because we don’t know whether the zoning might change in years to come.
‘‘We are constantly seeing good buildings getting demolished as the use of land changes. Our colonial history shows people built with the attitude that we were just getting established so therefore ‘temporary’ was expected.
‘‘I designed these houses to last 100 years, possibly even 200, but it could be that in just 30 years the site is rezoned and they