Set in a rural landscape, this New Zealand home marries material and location to create a minimal but warm space

There is a fine line between minimalism and austerity, but the warmth of natural materials can carry a slick, sophisticated design into the realm of comfort and approachability. Seated in a rural settlement just outside of Christchurch, this house is a fine example of the approach, featuring a careful, constrained material palette and pared-back detailing that marries well with its location to create a warm home.

The home is the result of a collaboration between architects O’Neil Architecture, interior designers Lume Design and the professional couple who were their clients. For architect Darren O’Neil, the aim was to create a home that felt as though it had some context on its rural acreage. ‘The clients were adamant that the finished home look like it belonged in the environment,’ says O’Neil. ‘We created a series of timber barn forms connected by flat-roofed structures and clad in cedar with a silvered finish.’ Cedar battens over the windows, which can be adjusted with the movement of the sun to create shade, light play and privacy throughout, further the home’s rural aesthetic as well as its approachability from the street.

The detailing both inside and out is crisp and fine, with superfluous decorative elements eschewed. The kitchen is a prime example, its design directly reflecting the clients’ love of sleek Italian brand Poliform. ‘The clients are major fans of this very clean, European look with everything squared away,’ says Jeff Merrin, principal at Lume Design. He and his team designed the kitchen so that it can be closed off when not in use but opened up via pocket doors when needed as a workspace.

Working with the high volumes and open spaces of the living, kitchen and dining pavilion, Merrin saw the need to deliver warmth as well as a sense of cohesion to the interior. ‘We had the polished concrete floor as a medium to work with, so we paired it with chocolate-toned cabinetry,’ he says, and this visual texture is carried through the rest of the home. The richly toned timber can be seen in the shelving in the office and master dressing room, and in the vertical wall panelling in the powder room and media room, where it also forms a hidden door leading into the office.

Together with the clients, who are passionate about design, Merrin and his team chose a suite of high-end furniture for the home, taking a monochromatic approach with textures and dusky colours provided by soft furnishings such as cushions and rugs. ‘The house feels intimate despite its size,’ says O’Neil. ‘It’s pared back and refined, but still very grand. There is a real presence, and it’s the simplicity that makes it.’

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New Zealand’s O’Neil Architecture and Lume Design were tasked with designing a home that merged with the landscape, and the resulting structure is a series of cedar-clad timber barn forms

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The home’s decoration is reduced to the essential and impactful. In the living room, the angles of the window and fireplace are repeated in the geometric tables by David Shaw

Chocolate-toned cabinetry brings warmth and cohesion to the high, open volumes. The materiality is echoed in the round dining table — another David Shaw piece — that pairs perfectly with the clients’ own dining chairs, while the Moooi Meshmatics chandelier overhead is a lighter touch

In the sleek kitchen, all signs of the area’s functionality can be concealed behind brushed stainless steel and stained recut American white oak panels when not in use. Negative details form drawer handles and a satin-finish steel top appears to float on the surface of the island

This page, top left In the walk-in wardrobe, mirrors and a dark oak veneer continue the home’s restrained look and feel

This page, bottom The dark joinery is softened by a Henrik Pedersen-designed Charlotte armchair from BoConcept and Bloop coffee table by Regular Company for Artisan Facing page The monochromatic scheme continues in the master bedroom, where the custom upholstered headboard in Romo’s Linara Chinchilla is paired with a Bordeaux bedside table by Morten Georgsen for BoConcept, and a collection of dark vessels

This page, top right The master ensuite’s silk-finish Neolith Calatorao tiles and the continuation of the dark joinery highlight the freestanding bath