‘Thinking Room’ House Wows Judges

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HOME New Zealand Home of the Year 2009 by Mitchell & Stout Architects

Press release: Strictly embargoed until 7.30pm, Wednesday August 5, 2009

Home Of The Year 2009: ‘Thinking Room’ House Wows Judges To Win NZ’s Richest Architectural Prize

A weekend home on Waiheke Island that features a “room to think in” has won New Zealand’s richest architectural prize, HOME New Zealand magazine’s Home of the Year award.

The winning architects, David Mitchell and Julie Stout of Mitchell & Stout Architects, received the $15,000 first prize at a function in Auckland this evening [SUBS: Wednesday August 5, 2009]. It is the second time they have won the award.

The home, designed for a professional couple who spend their weekdays working in Auckland, features a towering all-white room the owners specifically requested as a space to think in

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HOME New Zealand Home of the Year 2009 - thinking room with Fazioli grand piano

“We chose this home as the Home of the Year because its surprising spaces suggest new possibilities for imagining how a home can be,” says HOME New Zealand editor Jeremy Hansen. “Nothing about this house is predictable, but it’s also totally liveable. It’s not a sterile showhome, but a house full of delightful discoveries that make a visitor want to spend days there.”

The Home of the Year award recognises excellence in New Zealand home design. This is the 14th anniversary of the Home of the Year award. Mitchell & Stout also won the award in 2005 for a house inspired by a tramper’s hut they designed in the King Country.

The 2009 Home of the Year was designed with an open-plan living, dining and kitchen space bookended by two double-height, cedar-clad volumes, one containing the master bedroom with guest bedrooms above it, the other containing the thinking room.

The house has views across the Waitemata Harbour to central Auckland, but the thinking room limits these views with a single slot window, instead inviting contemplation of the space itself and the quality of light in it. Architect David Mitchell likens the room’s interior to “the inside of an egg”.

The clients approached Mitchell & Stout with open minds but some strict parameters. “We didn’t want a house that suggested conspicuous consumption - we didn’t want marble and stuff like that,” one of the owners says. “We wanted the house to have good ideas and a beautiful aesthetic that wasn’t on the basis of pouring money into it.”

The room to think in was one of their few specific requests. “People have rooms for video, for playing pool, for working out and watching TV,” one of the owners says. “We wanted a room to think in”.

The other rooms in the house are equally imaginative. The second-floor guest rooms are tiny and nest-like, surrounded by cedar screens that can be opened and closed with a long pole. The master bedroom has a bright-yellow ceiling and a window that opens to allow the owners to climb out it to the garden.

“One of the things we liked about the house is that it is a strong and arresting addition to the landscape,” says HOME New Zealand editor Jeremy Hansen. “Many buildings these days are justly regarded as a blight on the landscape, but this one shows that thoughtfully designed homes can actually enhance a view.”

“We look at homes from all over New Zealand, and with many different building styles and budgets,” Hansen says. “The home by Mitchell & Stout stood out for its artistry and liveability”.

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Home of the Year 2009 winners Julie Stout and David Mitchell in the home they designed

ABOUT THE HOME OF THE YEAR AWARD

Each year, HOME New Zealand calls for architects to enter the Home of the Year award by sending photographs and plans of recently completed homes. A three-person judging panel (this year comprised of HOME New Zealand editor Jeremy Hansen and architects Hugh Tennent and Alistair Luke) shortlists 10 houses for a judging visit before choosing the winner and four finalists to feature in the magazine.

The four finalists in the 2009 award are also featured in HOME New Zealand’s Home of the Year issue. They are:

• Andrea Bell of Pete Bossley Architects for a home she designed in Glendowie, Auckland
• Michael O’Sullivan of Bull O’Sullivan Architects for the design of his own family home in Mangere Bridge, Auckland
• Gerald Parsonson of Parsonson Architects for a bach he designed in Hawkes Bay
• Nicholas Stevens and Gary Lawson of Stevens Lawson Architects for a home they designed in Hawkes Bay

The Home of the Year award announcement was held on Wednesday August 5, 2009, at the Wintergarden at the Northern Club, 19 Princes St, Auckland, designed by Jeff Fearon & Tim Hay of Fearon Hay Architects, winners of the Home of the Year award in 2000.

HOME New Zealand’s Home of the Year award issue is on sale Thursday August 6, 2009.

ENDS

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