Design Notebook Q&A

Daniel Marshall

Daniel Marshall Architects - Bold, angular but still family friendly, Daniel Marshall's design for Glenn and Karen Keaney in Mount Maunganui will adapt as the family grows.

HOME New Zealand: This is a house for a family with long children - how did you design for the flexibility they'll probably need as the kids grow?

Daniel Marshall: When I first net the clients, Karen was only pregnant with their first child, and now they have three - so there was a bit of adapting as circumstances changed. By separating the living and the bedroom areas both in terms of levels and because they are spaced apart by the courtyards and the stairs, it created areas that could be used for different functions. All the spaces can be used fore different things - even the garage has ben adapted to play area now.

The house is in a fairly typical Mount Maunganui suburb, but it doesn't look like any of the other houses around it. Were you deliberately trying to make it stand out form its neighbours?

Yes, I definitely wanted the house to read as 'other form the neighbourhood context, but mainly we really tried to get as much out of what was available form the site to maximise views and privacy at the house, so those decisions drove the form to a large extent. Ao the design is really a response to the site and what was already there.