ECO-FRIENDLY HOME
MURIWAI
71C Taiapa Valley Road
Deciding to leave the city six years ago proved not only easy for designer Hannah Gordon and her husband, but it was a move they have relished beyond expectation.
She describes their lifestyle property, perched on a Muriwai hillside, as “a house that’s thoughtfully designed and a striking piece of architecture that engages the landscape in every way.”
Designed by The Block winners Corban and Alex Walls, in collaboration with architect Fraser Horton, the cleverly positioned home is made from reused shipping
containers with an applied macrocarpa facade. Hannah and her young family have enjoyed what she says are “grand and sweeping views over the kauri forest, immense rolling hills and native bush”, adding that the kauri forest is collectively owned by the couple and their neighbours, backs on to DOC land and offers a private walking track.
The home’s sustainability was also a chief attraction for the couple when they bought.
“We wanted a lighter footprint. The way the home was constructed from reused shipping containers to the selfsufficient elements of the home the double glazing, the tiles that retain the heat from the day, and the water systems which collect water from the roof and into the tank which additionally irrigates the land - were all a massive bonus to us to enable us to live more lightly,” says Hannah.
“Being able to bath outside, waking in the morning to the view and the way the home is perched on the hill, it has an eternity feel about it.”
The home’s superior design is evident in every area, says Hannah, from the skillfully arranged German-made kitchen with raw stainless-steel benches topping two kitchen islands to the ample storage, the two courtyards front and rear of a central living area, bedroom wings which project onto the countryside and modern bathrooms and incomparable indoor/outdoor flow.
Bayley’s agent Simon Spiller says, “This is not your ordinary contemporary home. This is a home for people who appreciate something different. It’s simple and streamlined, without being sterile. I haven’t experienced anything like it.”
Auction: May 12
Contact: Simon Spiller, Bayleys, 021 968 068