Renovations
Cochrane Project
With the evolution of home entertaining came this unique opportunity to redevelop the existing service quarters and scullery of this William Grey Young home into a character rich living, dining and kitchen space for its retired owners. This 1920s, English Vernacular William Gray Young home is prominently located on the Moana Rd ridge overlooking Wellington City and Harbour to the East allotting the rear western quarters of this home to its utility spaces. While the stately drawing room, dining spaces and bedrooms are warmed by the morning sun, the service quarters to their west caught the extent of the mid and late afternoon sun. With this in mind we have developed alongside German Kitchens this living space that surrounds its beautiful colonial courtyard, capturing western views of the Karori Wild Life Sanctuary below. The new space reflects the quality of construction profound in this home while embracing double glazed timber framed windows and energy wise construction, LED lighting and under floor technology.
Morrison House
Description: Morrison House
The clients brief was to alter there existing timber villa on the Grand Circle of Mt Victoria, Hawker St. They requested that a 50’s addition be removed from the street elevation, and that it be restored with an addition resembling its original condition.
The design for the extensions to the living and upstairs bedroom, utilized careful timber detailing to the exterior and interior to seamlessly integrate the old with the new. The plan was opened out and a new kitchen / bathroom / laundry lean to at the rear provide modern facilities, with access to a private garden.
Vorstermans House
Description: Alterations and Additions.
This project is my own family home. We bought the 1961, two storey ‘Brick and Tile Box’ set on the hill side of Seatoun Heights because of the magnificent views of Seatoun Beach and the inner Wellington Harbour. We redesigned the existing home in an attempt to engage every space of the house with the views and the land, while engaging with passive solar and sustainable building principles that have proven to provide us with a consistently warm environment all year round. We achieved this through the use of insulation, slab heat sinks, double glazing and well considered north facing glazing. In addition, the use of solar hot water heating and heat pump technology has proven to reduced energy use to a surprisingly low level for a substantial home. Every room captures a unique view and relates specifically to the differing levels of the terraced garden. Interior spaces open up and close off with large sliding doors, giving the house both an open spacious and intimate feel necessary for its ever changing uses.
Seatoun Residence
Description: Seatoun Residence
This property was originally built in the 1950′s, previous owners had attempted renovations before the current owners approached us. As prior clients of Vorstermans Architects the clients wished to use our services again to realise the potential of the property. The brief was to create a master suite and a deck over this new suite, include a new media room, laundry and two new studies. The house was re clad and painted and the garden landscaped.
Gibney McDermott
Decription: Gibney McDermott
A residential bungalow from the 1930’s that Rob was approached to renovate. “It was a single story three bedroom home that needed a whole lot more space added but without changing the character of the house. That was a key design issue,” says Rob, “because the clients were strong on the fact they wanted to maintain that bungalow feel.”
Rob was approached because of his experience in doing alterations to residential properties. “It’s an extremely satisfying market to be in because of the fulfillment and satisfaction I get from working with residential customers. My core focus is to keep working with individual owners and I’m getting a lot of clients coming back a second time either to do further alterations or to build from scratch.”
54 Hector St was a challenge however as it needed extensive renovating to accomplish what the clients wanted. “We had to add an extra storey to add two
additional bedrooms, add another bathroom, put on a family room and a double garage.”
Contact Details.
phone 04-384 8395
email rob@architecture.gen.nz
street address 47 Cuba St, Wellington
postal address PO Box 11083, Wellington