Edition

The project occupies a prominent position on the east corner of Earle and Churton streets, in Parnell, Auckland, overlooking Judges Bay and the Hauraki Gulf to the north and east. The project is a residential development with 2 levels of basement parking and 6 levels of apartments above. The site is 1,212m2 in area and in a generally rectangular shape (the eastern boundary is irregular).The site has an elevation of approximately 25m at the site’s western street boundary with Churton Street. The site falls 6m to the east and towards St Georges Bay Rd. Imagined as a bold, contemporary building that confidently occupies the sloping site. The upper three levels are cantilevered above the ground, creating a beautiful profile with a sophisticated shape that enables view shafts from the street through to the harbour beyond. To counter the assertiveness of the building’s silhouette, the building’s facade is encased in Italian-made glass bricks. The juxtaposition between the playful weightlessness of the glass and the strength of the building’s concrete roots conspires to create something original. From the street, abstract flashes of colour and movement will be glimpsed through the glass. And at night, the lights of the apartments illuminate it from within. The glass bricks specified are the Sevesglass, Pegasus metallizzato. These bricks have finely detailed metallic rim on the inside face of the glass. This will capture and enhance subtle shifts in light and reflections across the buildings surface, creating a delicate and fluid/animated surface. Inside, the spaces are ample and gorgeous, with the same proportions and generosity as large homes. The building consists of 18 units in a mix of 2-, 3- and 4-bedroom apartments. The design offers a variety of residential unit types differing in size, orientation, and elevation. All serviced apartments have full height glazing and full width openings to encourage obscured views and access to the winter gardens, allowing the space to be used as an extension of the living room. The project creates an elegant, sculptural, and distilled response to a typically complicated architectural typology.