Architecture
revolution
THE CUBE By Lydia Truesdale
Small, innovative housing solutions are emerging victorious from the Christchurch rebuild. Slowly but surely they’re becoming a popular choice for a range of homeowners, and rightfully so.
“There’s a big difference between a house that’s affordable because it is poor quality and a house that’s affordable because it is innovative,” says director of Cube, Matt Gorinski.
A local, forward-thinking project management and building company, Cube was among the first local companies to recognise the place of progressive, compact housing in today’s economy and is refreshingly passionate about marrying these solutions with homeowners. WHAT’S A CUBE HOUSE? A ‘Cube’ house is a small yet highly sophisticated home. It’s by no means ‘cheap’, rather affordable, because of its intelligent composition within compact dimensions. There are three set designs to choose from: the original (one bedroom), a T shape and an L-shape (both two bedroom). The designs consist of open-
plan entertaining areas, private bedrooms and full size bathrooms. When it comes to materials only the best are used, ensuring a high-spec home that exceeds standard regulations. To allow for this to occur on budget, every component, even floor covering dimensions, have been designed to size to avoid wasted labour and material costs. An original Cube house is versatile: able to be transported in one piece for relocation or on-sale, or to be extended in a seamless manner, for example, the entertaining area can be enhanced by flowing onto a deck, and any additional bedrooms can be easily added to the bedroom wing. COST OF A CUBE HOUSE To build, a Cube house generally costs in excess of $2,000 per square metre but Matt says this is a poor indication of overall affordability when you consider
that buyers can build a brand new, hi-spec home, that is highly affordable to run long term, from $86,000 + GST. Coupled with a section purchase price of say $150,000, buyers end up with a warm, clean, environmentally and financiallyefficient house for under $290,000 – and that’s something that appeals to a number of people including first home buyers, retirees, young professionals, travelling professionals, young families and more. CUBE HOUSES: THE WAY OF THE FUTURE Harcourts Grenadier’s Keith MacDonald, top salesperson at the Beckenham office for 2016-2017, was the agent for a Cube house that recently sold in the Port Hills. He says there was a strong showing of interest and the design generated excitement and discussion amongst potential buyers. Cube’s innovative building solutions extend to sleep outs and offices. These smaller designs – Cube cabins – are an intelligent way to add value to most investments, either as a home studio or office that is private to the main house, or as an extra, standalone bedroom for guests, family or as a rental/ B&B opportunity. Cube has completed a number of builds and has many more in the pipeline. Matt recognises that
If you have questions about smaller housing solutions, Matt the expert can help, as he has plenty of experience: MATT GORINSKI Cube Cabins (03) 332 0053 matt@cubecontracting.co.nz www.cubecabins.co.nz www.cubecontracting.co.nz
KEITH MACDONALD Harcourts Grenadier Beckenham 0274 964 799 thekeithmacdonaldteam@ harcourts.co.nz www.realestatehouse.kiwi.nz
Licensed Agent REAA 2008
a Cube design is not going to be suitable for every homebuyer, but its familiarities with modernEuropean housing movements suggest compact, innovative housing is the way of the future. Matt wholeheartedly believes that if people keep an open mind to modern housing solutions then even those who think they can’t get on the property ladder might not only be able to call themselves homeowners, but homeowners of a brand new, sophisticated home of the future. For more information about Cube houses visit www.cubecontracting.co.nz or www.cubecabins.co.nz
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