66 | ARCHITECTURE Jasmax - Callum Dowie Architecture Storytelling at the heart of Te Rau Aroha Virginia Wright Fast track to happiness Kelly Deeks DESIGN Workshop e P: 09 275 9906 E: sales@concretec.co.nz www.concretec.co.nz Suppliers of panels, beams, stairs, balconies, columns and other precast components Concretec are proud to support Jasmax - Callum Dowie Architecture alan@composite-nz.co.nz • PH +64 3 348 8015 ex 2 • FX +64 3 348 2409 Suppliers of Goldfoam XPS Polystyrene to Mayfair Pools Throughout NZ Heritage Digitisation, Printing & Consultancy hello@heritagestudios.co.nz | 021 447773 An awkward triangular section backing on to Auckland’s Western Line train track at the end of an ordinary cul-de-sac in Avondale is now the site of an award-winning home, thanks to the skillfulness and the ‘sweat equity’ applied by its owners. The Dowie Rose house, home to Callum Dowie and Jessica Rose, has won a 2022 Auckand Architecture Award from Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects, with judges citing its wonderful demonstration of how domestic architecture can rework the ordinariness of the suburbs. But it seems Callum, the home’s architect, builder, and project manager, had more than ordinariness to overcome with his design. He remembers an episode of Grand Designs from about 20 years ago which featured a house backing on to a railway line in London. “It sparked something in me, and I knew we could build beside train tracks and through design, mitigate the negative impacts of the sound.” Callum, an architect with more than 15 years’ experience and a senior associate at Jasmax Architects, chose an 8m precast Thermomass concrete wall to form the rear of the house, with 2m dug into the ground to retain the base of the house. From there, it was a case of designing a cost-effective and The Dowie Rose Home is nestled beside the Western Line. Photo: Sam Hartnett Workshop e is an exhibition, design and development company based in Whangārei. Having successfully managed to work remotely as a result of Covid their team of 6 are now scattered around the country, as are their various projects past and present. They began as an exhibition, production and joinery workshop. Many of the team came from the museum industry, and more specifically from Te Papa, where they made things like cases, plinths, and display furniture for taonga. rom these roots in exhibition joinery grew their desire a few years ago to be involved earlier in the design process. Today Workshop e are an integral part of the exhibition journey from conception to the final object installation, including all forms of written and digital storytelling. While her fellow director Jeff Brown is an artist who came to the museum world via a Fine Arts degree and working in art galleries, Az James started as a designer in Lower Hutt’s Dowse Art Museum in the late 80’s. She joined Workshop e as Creative director in 2007 having spent the intervening years moving between jobs at the Dowse and Te Papa and back again more than once. That the company started to push into the design space with Az’s arrival was no coincidence, and the work they’ve done since then has seen their involvement in conceiving and creating exhibitions come earlier and earlier in the process. Their projects have ranged from the Lake Pukaki Visitor Centre, through Expo 2020 Dubai, the All Blacks Experience Te Wairua sustainable home, for the sake of their budget as well as the environment. Callum and Jessica didn’t need a big house and they’ve settled on 117sqm across two storeys. The positioning of the home towards the rear of the section means subdivision is an option for the future but for now, the couple make use of their garden space with chickens, fruit trees, and vegetable gardens. Callum applied sustainable design elements such as north-facing windows and stacks of windows from the top of the house to the floor for maximum air circulation and heat distribution. A metal SIPs roof adds provides insulation which works in harmony with the thermal mass contributed by the precast concrete panels and concrete floor. Callum’s main objective, creating somewhere to sit and enjoy a beer in the afternoon sun, has been achieved with a front deck on the western boundary, opening the home to the street. Its colourful exterior further invokes its welcoming, approachable feel. Callum and Jessica have chosen a primary palette with red, blue, and yellow featuring throughout the interior and apparent on the exterior, with coloured glass from Metro Glass as well as nautical flags hung in the windows. “The sun shines through and it looks amazing,” Callum says. “People will walk past and stop to talk. That connection to the community we live within is a positive thing, it’s what makes anywhere a nice place to live.” Õpango and, one of the most recent, Te Rau Aroha The Price of Citizenship. A finalist in this year’s Civic Interior Awards it’s the result of close collaboration with their clients, the Waitangi National Trust, HB Architects, and representatives of the four companies which made up the Māori Battalion in the second world war. It’s a permanent interactive exhibition installed at the top of the Treaty Grounds in Waitangi and for Az it’s an excellent example of why this collaborative approach to exhibition, and the storytelling at the heart of it, is both satisfying and successful. “This museum tells stories of Māori involvement in conflict from 1840 to today and the Māori struggle for equal rights as citizens of Aotearoa. The museum bears witness to the impact that Article 3 of the Treaty of Waitangi has had on New Zealand’s development as a nation, in particular through the sacrifice made by Māori serving their country during times of war. The speech given by Sir Āpirana Ngata in 1940, on the Waitangi Treaty Grounds in front of the Whare Runanga was at the heart of the concept. It was the centennial of the signing of the Treaty and the speech suggested that the ultimate obligation would be for Māori to put their lives on the line in the service of their country – to pay, in Sir Āpirana Ngata’s words, ‘the price of citizenship’ in upholding their duty under Article 3. “The museum shows how Māori have been prepared to pay this price in their struggle for equality, to show their capacity as citizens, and to claim their entitlement to participate fully in the life of the nation – in peacetime as well as during war,’ says Az.
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