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Design Review: Volume 4, Issue 1 (July-August 1951)

A House at Lower Hutt

page 9

A House at Lower Hutt

1 The living room opens onto lawn court. Photograph shows depth of penetration of mid-winter sunshine.

1 The living room opens onto lawn court. Photograph shows depth of penetration of mid-winter sunshine.

The house is placed at rear of section to avoid obstruction of winter sunshine and outlook by houses on each side. Layout of house and section designed as a whole to make the most of all the land: from inside, one is aware of the diagonal length of the section bounded by the two walled garden courts onto which the living room opens. House floor level is a continuation of the garden (as a result of concrete floor slats which has proved that, properly constructed, a concrete floor is warmer, more comfortable and much quieter than the usual timber floor). General planning of house and division of section into private walled courts indicate that something much more livable than the usual suburban layout is possible within the limitations of the standard 50-foot section.

The house itself is planned around the living habits of a married couple reaching the time for retirement: it achieves page 10
2 The lawn court at the rear of the section is cut off from the street, away from the neighbours, and sheltered from the winds.

2 The lawn court at the rear of the section is cut off from the street, away from the neighbours, and sheltered from the winds.

3 The living room seen from the garden court.

3 The living room seen from the garden court.

the easy-going atmosphere of a holiday house, and proves incidentally the practicality of the so-called open planning for the normal family house. To counter the cramping effect of today's minimum floor areas, severely limited by economics, the rooms of the house are merged into one another wherever practicable.

Kitchen-laundry, dining and sitting area, sewing space, main bedroom and dressing area are all one continuous room, with the various activities related in their natural everyday sequence. The kitchen is divided from the sitting area, and the bedroom divided from the living area by two head — high cabinets allowing the full extent of the ceiling area to be seen. The only partition walls that go to the ceiling are around the central bathroom block, and the row of cupboards down the centre of the house. As a result of this manner of planning, an air of great spaciousness and the luxury of a 43-foot internal dimension are achieved in a house of little over 1000 square feet floor area. Long wasted passages are avoided, and circulation within the house has proved most convenient in practice. The passage between the main bedroom and the den/guest bedroom doubles as the wash space, with the hand-basin built in front of the obscure glass side wall of the shower.

Everywhere there is the beauty of the grain and colour of natural woods: exterior boarding of vertical heart rimu flooring, ceiling of Finnish birch plywood, and built-in furniture of waxed heart rimu and birch.

Lighting is largely indirect from the top of the dividing cabinets, and heating is by means of an oil-burning space-heater placed centrally in the house and arranged to heat on both sides of the main longitudinal partition.

page 11
4 From the street the house lies behind the enclosed garden court.

4 From the street the house lies behind the enclosed garden court.

5 The kitchen is separated from the living room by a head-high china cabinet.

5 The kitchen is separated from the living room by a head-high china cabinet.

The numbering of the photographs corresponds with the numbers on the plan.

Photographs by Barry Woods