Farm Cove House | Lite House | ArchiPro

Enjoying a view over the Tamaki River, Farm Cove House recreates island life in the East Auckland suburbs with half of the home dedicated to outdoor living. The heart of this sunny three-storeyed home is an open-plan kitchen, dining and living area that flows out into an al fresco dining space, a courtyard lounge and a swimming pool.

Having lived on Waiheke Island for 17 years, the owners, architectural designer Bryce Ardern and his wife Jules, decided to move to the mainland for their teenage girls’ schooling. The couple spotted an 80s house on a large section on the Farm Cove waterfront, which they bought with the intention of renovating before realising that the old building wasn’t fit for purpose.

“The house wasn’t in the right place, among other issues, so we decided to subdivide the section and develop it with two houses, rather than the one,” explains Bryce. Firstly, they built the waterfront home, Farm Cove I before selling it to fund the construction costs of this home, which sits in behind.

As well as being the clients, the couple runs a design-and-build company, Lite House, and Bryce was both the architectural designer and the builder on the project. He describes the process of creating a home for his own family as “very personal”. While they were undertaking the subdivision and construction of the lower house, the family lived in the existing house for a year, which gave them time to learn about the local environmental conditions, knowledge that informed the design of their new home.

[GordonJones]

This place has a fantastic view of the neighbor's roof.

[archreyona]

notes:
direct involvement of client in decision making, indoor outdoor flow, private space, board forms used to get a wood grain texture horizontally beside vertical cladding for contrast, farm ambiance.

[victorhugom]

La casa hermosa y todas las plantas moribundas

[זהביתצרפתי-זי]

This is a real vecation house in and out

[JBrites]

Question about this build/design, why did they decide to enclose the pool with glass panels virtually all the way around?
Does that have something to do with New Zealand by-laws for the area? seems a bit odd to enclose such a prime spot like that other than for by-laws or small kids

[diefluse]

The usage of filters is absolutely unprofessional

[HandsonJ]

LOOSE the music. Its not a dance video! We are trying to understand the information being spoken. Cant hear the information!

[pc-mpbl]

The music is so overbearing you can't understand the talking. What a waste - get rid of the music!