| 87 Sheppard & Rout Architects ARCHITECTURE Catching the eye on the Port Hills Given its 380sqm footprint, including a three-car garage, part of Sheppard and Rout’s approach to its design was to avoid it being another example of “a great big house up on a hill.” Photos: Jason Mann Virginia Wright Christchurch based architectural practice Sheppard and Rout was established 40 years ago by David Sheppard and Jonty Rout and the practice continues to flourish. “We do a large diversity of work including commercial, healthcare, and educational buildings, plus specialist projects such as the Opuke Hot Pools in Methven or the Dark Sky Tekapo Observatory, through to multi-unit housing and individual houses,” says one of the two current directors Jasper Van der Lingen. “We work all over the country too. At the moment we’re doing jobs in Hamilton, Whanganui, Wellington, Punakaiki, Queenstown, Tekapo and Dunedin as well what we have in Canterbury.” Jasper has been with the company since the early 90’s, nearly as long as the other director Tim Dagg. They’re joined by three associate directors on what is now a medium-sized business with more than 20 staff including David Sheppard who still works with them as a consultant; architectural designers, graduates, and interior design specialists. Jasper himself is responsible for a recent architectural build on Redmond Spur. When the build began it was a relatively new sub-division on the lower slopes of the south-eastern edge of the Port Hills, broadly speaking in between Cashmere and Tai Tapu, on the former Van Asch farm. “Dan Van Asch is an old childhood friend of mine,” says Jasper. “Over the years he’s been sub-dividing the old farm into residential properties on quite large sections allowing everyone to benefit from a sense of space rather than being jammed in.” While having a 1600sqm section helps with obvious issues like preserving views and privacy, being the first build in the subdivision meant a lot of educated guess work had to go into working out how to highlight the views without being built out in the future, explains Jasper. “We spent a lot of time on site with the clients and a compass, identifying where the views were and how to build for them in a way that wouldn’t be built out later on. “Then we orientated our main living areas to not look directly onto where future houses were likely to be.” The clients wanted easy indoor-outdoor flow without being at the mercy of the winds that frequently swirl around the Port Hills. The Drainage•Excavation • New Housing • CCTV Drain Inspections • Hydro Blasting • Root Cutting • Alterations & Repairs • Commercial Drainage • Excavation 03 331 8485 0800 2 FLORITE www.flo-rite.co.nz WASTEWATER SYSTEMS Authorised CCC Drainlayers solution was different spaces with floor-toceiling glass opening to outdoor areas the use of which depends on what’s happening with the wind and where the sun’s coming from. Given its 380sqm footprint, including a three-car garage, part of Sheppard and Rout’s approach to its design was to avoid it being another example of “a great big house up on a hill.” The potentially problematic garage which runs along the road frontage has been buried, and the green roof planted along its top reduces its visual dominance, so that people looking down from above see the tussocks flowing over it and back to the ground in which it nestles rather than an expanse of corrugated iron. The concept of making it part of the land rather than an imported structure can be felt in the use of materials used including the big feature stone wall, which takes you through the main entrance, not cut and polished but made of local Port Hills volcanic stone, reminiscent of historic local sites like the Sign of the Kiwi. “Trying to let it grow out of the ground and be very grounded in its place,” explains Jasper. “Then we’ve built a folded plate roof that hovers over this to give shelter and to give a sense of floating. “We’re playing on that duality between earth and sky: an earthbound, grounded form with this sky-like hovering form giving a canopy to protect from the weather.” The time spent on design and planning paid off with the approximately $2 million build coming in on budget over an 18-month build. “It was a reasonably seamless build with good clients open to ideas. “When they moved in they said they felt like they were on permanent holiday living in a resort-lodge,” says Jasper. It was finished a couple of years ago with both clients and architects pleased with the result. Sheppard and Rout have entered it into, and been short-listed for, this year’s New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA) Awards for the Canterbury Region Residential section. “We’re playing on that duality between earth and sky: an earthbound, grounded form with this sky-like hovering form giving a canopy to protect from the weather.”
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