Cimino

Remuera, Auckland, New Zealand 2006

The project brief asked for two houses on the same site, each with a three car garage, with the larger house accommodating four bedrooms for the clients and their grown children. The second house was to accommodate two / three bedrooms and became affectionately referred to as the “dinghy”.

The Lovell Health House by Richard Neutra served as a precedent.

The massing of the form was arranged around a central piazza, which allowed for the comfortable maneuvering of vehicles and unified the arrangement of the two dwellings. The horizontal banding between light and dark that binds the two dwellings serves to diminish the bulk of the larger dwelling. The house was constructed with pre-cast concrete, plaster on cavity block and anthra zinc on plywood. The base of the house was clad in honed basalt. The pre-cast ʻfinsʼ serve to lead the visitor into the entry of the main house. Inside the house, the architectural arrangement of space and controlled palette provides a backdrop and counterpoint for the ownerʼs flamboyant taste.