Location: Auckland, New Zealand.

Architect: matter.

The site sits on the fringe of Auckland’s CBD along a key arterial route and features an existing pink villa in a dilapidated state. The design intent is to celebrate its form, its context and its history, using contemporary forms, technologies and materials as a medium. The homogenisation of the two stairways forms a central entrance for the two buildings, extending the streetscape into the site and creating a dialogue between the restored villa and its surrounding counterparts. The glorification of the villa is achieved by lowering the floor level to below the current floor level and increasing the resultant height of the entrance verandah and the villa’s interior. Undulating timber batons line the windows of the rear addition, a contemporary reference to the repetitive pattern the eye creates when viewing the villas streetward.

The integration of communal spaces is central to the design, with circulation spaces reconsidered to provide leisure and connectivity between the levels and tenancies. Breakout areas have been incorporated and designed to be accessible to all within the building, providing interaction between potential colleagues or forming relationships between tenancies.