My career started in the early nineties when, not having any real idea about what to do, I took a job as a chippy on a building site here in Tauranga.

WORDS Andre Laurent

It didn’t take long before I noticed there was a real lack of respect for designers and architects; simply, the plans they gave us were often inaccurate or lacked any proper detail and information, leaving us to try and figure things out for ourselves on site.

I knew there had to be a better way and could already see back then the problems this was potentially going to cause. So, while continuing to work full-time as a builder, I completed an architectural design degree and took up contract drafting work at night. My drive throughout was to bridge the gap between the office and the work site.

I quickly established a reputation for supplying highly accurate information and critical details that my friends and colleagues back on the building site fully appreciated. I established Creative Space Architectural Design Ltd in 2003.

PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF SIMPLICITY

My focus on design accuracy and highly detailed plans led to exploring the idea of simplicity. I began to wonder how far we can push this perceived boundary into the space of design excellence. And the answer is, quite a lot actually.

I finally had the opportunity to test out my ideas when we sold our first home and bought a beautiful big piece of land sitting at the top of the Wairoa Valley hills. This time, I wanted to design and build a home that would cost the same as an entry-level brick and tile yet have the features and benefits of a high specification, architecturally designed home.

LOOKING AFTER THE BUDGET

One of the great things about reducing the cost of building your home: there’s more budget to spend on everything else. However, the simplicity of the structure is part of its beauty too. The home has a 2.7m stud height, feels spacious and gets as much sunshine or breeze as we want. We have a high-spec kitchen, full gable double-glazed stacking doors along two sides of the ground level, pivot windows in the roof of the top level, a hardwood deck and plenty of budget left over for the spa pool and new furnishings.

Another discovery that came out of this experiment was the development of the previously unused roof cavity into more living and storage space. This further reduced both the construction costs and building footprint, plus the entirety of the roof space is now used, with the low ends of the attic trusses providing storage.

HIGH PERFORMANCE

One of the ways we were able to increase the performance of our home without adding any extra cost, was to use Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) for the main structure. This, combined with opposing windows and doors, has meant we are comfortable in any weather. The ambient temperature of our home remains around 22 degrees all year around, without any extra heating or cooling systems.

I am constantly comparing the temperature inside and outside. In the middle of winter, it can be an overcast day of 10 degrees and be 26 degrees inside. With no additional heating overnight, by 6am the internal temperature will have dropped to 22 degrees whilst outside it might be just one degree.

The other benefit of using ICF – longevity. Our new home will last several lifetimes. Just as all homes should.

This exercise in simplicity has given my family the most incredibly warm, comfortable, stylish home, at an entry-level budget. I think it’s safe to say that the experiment was a total success.

creativespace.co.nz