River Road House

Background: Our Client had purchased a property close to Hamilton's CBD and on the banks of the Waikato River, with the intention of developing two apartments on the site. With expansive views of the river and the historic Fairfield Bridge, the client's brief was for a design which addressed the river and the bridge, but at the same time created privacy from the immediate neighbours. A couple with grown up children, they wished to live in one of the apartments, so the design had to meet their busy lifestyle. With regular overseas trips, they required a low maintenance dwelling. Entertaining was also a large part of their lifestyle. Rigid Planning regulations further added to the design challenge.

Solution: It was decided early on in the design process that a three level structure was required to maximise the potential of the site. A large open plan living area (consisting of Kitchen, Dining and Family) was placed on the ground floor, along with the garaging and laundry. The second floor consists of two bedrooms, an office/bedroom and home theatre/formal living area facing the river. The office and home theatre have been separated using floor to-ceiling cavity sliders, extending the living space for entertaining and making the most of the views through the living area from the office. The third level contains the Master Suite, with walk-in-wardrobe and En-suite.

Full height glazing facing Northwest, towards the river, is prominent on every level. On the upper floors, where balconies extend towards towards the river, frameless glass balustrades have been used to ensure the River and Bridge views are not compromised. "Highlight" windows on the elevations facing the side neighbours ensure privacy on the upper levels, while adjustable Louvres over windows facing South East give privacy to the two second floor bedrooms and third floor en-suite. A lift was a necessity with the 3-level design, which was placed centrally in each apartment for ease of access.
The exterior forms create simple geometric shapes which follow the boundary "height recession" planes. A diverse combination of exterior cladding materials including Plaster, Composite Aluminium panel and Stone, have been used to highlight the diverse features of the dwellings. Stone "wing-walls" are contiguous from the exterior through to the interior of the ground floor lounge, blurring the line between interior and exterior and drawing ones eye towards the river.