“Honestly, we’ve never been big bungalow fans,” says Zoe Ikin, head of experience design at ASB Bank. “But when we found this house in an amazing location, on the right side of the street with a north-facing backyard, we knew we could leverage those great bones.”
The 1920s home in Westmere, Tāmaki Makaurau was in relatively original condition, with an old dining room tacked on in a hasty lean-to out the back. It sat high above the land with no real connection to the backyard, just a rickety mess of deck and trellis that stepped down to the garden where an old garage ate up half the usable space. With two young kids to consider, Ikin and her husband, Sam Trustrum, knew the house needed better indoor-outdoor flow, extra space, another bedroom and a more functional layout.
Both work in design, “so we had a fairly directional brief”, says Ikin. They called on architect Marc Lithgow, of Space Division, who began by knocking down the lean-to, leaving the strong form of the original bungalow. The house needed repiling, so the couple figured, if they were going to lift it, they might as well move the whole thing to a more advantageous spot on the site. Shimmying the house closer to the street freed up space for a modern extension at the back. “We moved it far enough forward that the new addition went no further into the land than the old house,” says Lithgow. “The days of sitting on the verandah are gone, so we reclaimed that space from the front garden and transplanted it out the back.”
The architect followed a pretty traditional bungalow renovation formula: the private zones were shifted into the warm confines of the original home so a generous kitchen, living and dining extension could take shape out the back. He deviated from the standard approach, however, by wrapping the pale timber addition across the back and one side of the home. The wide-gabled form swoops around the corner of the living room, cleverly morphing into a single-car garage and laundry. From the street, the new form tucks quietly into the side of the house, masquerading as nothing more than a suave, enclosed carpark. It embodies the couple’s design intention of pairing a simple form with a pared-back palette. “We wanted to keep the detailing quite spare because Sam and I are both object people, so we knew we had a lot of interesting layers to add to the space,” says Ikin. “We just needed a box to contain those.”
It’s a pretty sharp interpretation of a “box”. The rough-sawn larch cladding is laid horizontally – a modern take on the bungalow’s traditional timber weatherboards. The addition has the same pitched roofline as the old home but sits lower on the site, putting you just above the backyard. “I didn’t want it to be too jarring against what was already there. Every decision we made was in consideration of the existing,” says Ikin. “After 100-odd years, who were we to come and add something uber-contemporary to the mix?”
You step down timber stairs into the bright, open-plan extension. “I sank many hours into thinking it through,” says Ikin. “I worked on the kitchen for nine months of drawings, cardboard prototypes and a full set of plans with open cupboards to see where everything went before we got here.” There’s a tidy informality to the space. The kitchen island is propped off the ground, made possible thanks to floating dishdrawers by Fisher & Paykel. There’s a neat little perch at the end of the bench and plenty of open shelves and space to display those aforementioned objects. High ceilings, pale oak flooring and shark-nose joinery demonstrate the beauty in restraint, while vast glazing along the back wall draws in natural light.
Fittingly for the young family, the experience is orientated around this renewed outdoor connection. As you enter the home, your eyes are drawn down the hallway towards the garden. “There are no high-level windows and no views out to the neighbouring houses, so you’re almost forced to look down,” explains Lithgow. Glazed sliders stack to one side, opening the living space to a slim deck that hovers over the lawn – an easy jump down for the kids. “They say that some people like a cave and some people like a stage, and I love this feeling of being hunkered down into this private garden. It’s quiet, nice and casual,” says Lithgow.
The architect rearranged and modernised the original bungalow with “a few very simple moves”. The approach to the verandah was shifted from the driveway side to the street side, and the entrance now leads to a central hallway with rooms on either side – a layout more often seen in villas. An extra bedroom and study were added, the original laundry and toilet were converted into the family bathroom, and the old bathroom and living room became the main bedroom and ensuite. The sensible rejig has achieved the space and separation the growing family needs.
“I’m still a bit dubious of bungalows,” admits Ikin. “With high, small windows that hardly let any light in, an entranceway on the side of the house and wasted space, they’re not very well set up for how we live in New Zealand – but we certainly made the most of this one. As designers, we like making things. Working at a scale where you’re creating a whole home for your family is a privilege and a super-cool opportunity... It’s kind of as good as it gets, right?”
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