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"Named after the metre-thick cast concrete wall separating mirrored dwellings, Party Wall House traces a clean outline on a bush-clad hillside in Wellington. Answering the brief to reimagine density, Ben Mitchell-Anyon and Sally Ogle of Patchwork Architecture subvert a number of notions about duplex living. A singular roof brings elegance to a two-part project and enables efficiency in siting, retaining existing trees for both outlook and privacy."

"‘With our designs we like embedding a narrative, another level of engagement,’ explains architect Ken Crosson, whose designs often evince a playful or subversive element. It was local gold-mining history that lent its narrative to Light Mine House, a beach bach at Kūaotunu, on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula. Nestling among the sand dunes and pīngao, a series of boxes is made unique by the addition of tapering skylights that reach for the sky."

"Set in splendid isolation in a small, surf-battered bay on the north coast of Horomaka Banks Peninsula, this rustic style dwelling is luxury accommodation at Annandale, a 4000-hectare beef and sheep farm. The bay is nature in the raw. Seals and penguins frequent the dense kelp beds offshore, whales and dolphins travel the coastline, and piled on the beach are tangles of bleaching driftwood. Faced with such an uncompromising location, architect Andrew Patterson eschewed a modern or abstracted path—which, he reasons, 'would have fought the timeless nature of the bay’—in favour of a rural vernacular form, albeit on a monumental scale.

"The 1970s houses of Whangamatā were the design source for this new beach bach—the simple gables, lean-tos, decks and yards. ‘The clients and I walked the neighbourhood to have a look at the existing character,’ says architect Paul Clarke. ‘They wanted to build sympathetically in the form and size of the building, so we’ve reused elements we know well, but combined them in a new way to put together something different.’"

"Mountain peaks, river valleys and glacial lakes sketch the sub-alpine landscape of the southern lakes – an environment revered by Jennifer Arnold and Alan Luckie. ‘It’s the wilderness of it all,’ notes Jennifer. ‘That immense space with its diamond sharp air and the ability to engage with all the elements.’ With a bare site overlooking Lake Wakatipu, they engaged architect Vaughn McQuarrie to design a shelter that would ‘sing with the music of the sun, wind and rain’. They discussed bivvies and huts, thermal efficiency and humble materials, and didn’t need (or necessarily want) the final design to resemble a traditional house."

"In the rugged landscape of Ophir in the Maniatoto, the ground is carpeted in schist and shingle, tussock and thyme; temperatures plunge to sub-zero in winter and rise into the mid-30s in summer. Thermal comfort is key in this environment, and for the creative couple who live here, so was a building that looked like it was of this place. ‘The site feels lunar,’ says architect Charlie Nott. ‘We had to create sanctuary in that hostile environment, and because the clients were designers, they were up for a challenge and highly involved in designing a permanent home and office.’"

"At Tara Iti, south of the Mangawhai Heads, a former pine plantation is gradually being restored to native habitat on the windy coastal sand dunes. On a site overlooking the world-renowned golf course is the Dune House, designed by architect Julian Guthrie as a retreat for a family with four children. The clients had holidayed in Palm Springs, a city noted for golf, mid-century modern design and a California desert climate—all of which factored into the brief for an expansive yet relaxed house at Tara Iti."

"Down at the bottom of Te Waipounamu, southerlies lash the coast and the crouching mānuka trees, whipping surf into a constant roar, while calmer moments bring peace and spectacular sunsets. This is the liminal zone where architect Stacey Farrell built her getaway crib. The crib is one of around 30 dwellings in Omaui, a tiny coastal settlement set among the scrub and dunes, looking north to Oreti Beach. Having owned the section for years, Stacey and her husband Ben took time to absorb the lie of the land, camping there and climbing trees to calculate the views. Their goal was a two-bedroom home stripped back to bare essentials: low-budget, off-grid, but above all small. ‘The aim was to keep things low and work with the landscape and hunker down,’ says Stacey."

"Connection to place is at the heart of this understated house. It evokes the continuous but evolving human settlement in the Bannockburn area in Central Otago. Here, the rusted remains of gold miners’ cottages dot a stony landscape of old mine tailings along the banks of the Kawerau River. ‘It’s an intense, exposed landscape,’ says architect Bergendy Cooke, ‘and the clients wanted a home that complemented these surroundings.’ Bergendy’s response was a house embedded in the terrain, offering protection from the harsh environment while refusing to be ostentatious. The low-lying building that emerged will become even less visible over time through the patina of its materials."

In addition to the 4,000-square-foot home, there is also a new guest house and garage with a shared porch that continues the material palette and design language established at the main house.

Accessed directly off the main living space, the covered outdoor porch acts as a second living room for the family, with a sculptural roof shape and wood furniture.

Approached from the driveway, the home is accessed along a stone path that turns into a series of wide, wooden steps. The home's angular roofline is a dramatic form against the natural backdrop, but the wood cladding connects it to the site.