About the project.
A cliff-face island location with limited access, a comprehensive brief requiring a visionary solution, and an exacting client demanding extraordinary attention to detail.
The finished project offers three-fold functionality in a stunning visual statement – a showpiece kitchen, an efficient scullery, and a temperature-controlled wine cellar – finished in zebrano timber hand-chosen in Africa, white Corian, glass and stainless steel.
Central to the space is the island, its wave-like, flared sides inversely reflecting the curve in the bulkhead above, and washed with LED lights at night in the client’s choice of colour and strength.
In the island, we were asked to deliver a practical furniture piece that could accommodate stools for informal dining, but that looked as if it floated above the travertine marble floor tiles. It took an exercise in geometry, proportion and balance.
Perched on a steep, north-facing, cliff-face site overlooking Hukurua Bay on Waiheke Island, 40 minutes by ferry from downtown Auckland – New Zealand’s largest city – this home was created for its owners by Archimedia, a firm renowned for its strong, structural design statements.
The brief stipulated a modern space, divided into three areas – the public showcase at the head of the living room, a scullery with a servery to the outdoors for barbecues, and a wine cellar. Each needed to connect seamlessly with the others.
The other element was an island, which rather than anchoring the kitchen as is more usual, needed to look as if it were floating within it.
Three-and-a-half years later, the house features a stunning series of spaces that meets their request for a kitchen that is sleek, minimal, modern and furniture-like, with no visible appliances to clutter its symmetry. From measure to manufacture, it took 18 months to complete and another 18 to install, and its success hinged upon listening closely to the clients and thinking outside the box to find solutions, phenomenal attention to detail – and solving the challenge of that island.
The location of the kitchen was dictated by where in the building’s envelope the architect had placed the doors to the outdoor entertaining area. We then broke the area down into three spaces as requested: a main kitchen, a wine cellar and scullery. The centerpiece island turned out to be 3.1m long and x 1.3m wide.
A very limited palette of materials was chosen for the kitchen’s finishes, guided by the travertine marble already selected for the floors and walls of the living room. Zebrano timber was picked to add warmth, white Corian for its visual simplicity, and practical glass and stainless steel for the scullery.
The initial measure-up for the plans was as precise as possible. This is a kitchen with no packing or spacers – and no room for mistakes, as every element had to be ferried out to the island and mistakes would be costly.
Sitting in pride of place at the top of the living room is the island, its wave-like, flared sides inversely reflecting the curve in the bulkhead above. Its Corian top supports the workspace and sink, and LED lighting – in every colour and level of brightness, all selected through the home automation system – washes down to the floor at night. Both aspects combine to create the impression of a floating item of furniture that was pivotal to – and so problematic in – the clients’ brief.
This project won the prestigious award from Society of British International Design (SBID) Awards’ kitchen, bedroom and bathroom category.
