A touch of glass

Palm Springs meets mid-century modern in this Thorne Group show home.

WORDS MONIQUE BALVERT-O’CONNOR PHOTOS SUPPLIED

There’s much that shines at the latest Thorne Group show home in Pāpāmoa, but there’s one feature that’s an indisputable standout.

Clever design showcases just how the outdoors can be celebrated within the framework of a house – all thanks to a collaborative project between the award-winning Thorne Group Homes and Thorne Group Architecture.

While “indoor-outdoor flow” has become a clichéd description, this Palm Springs house is next level in this regard, with an internal garden and many walls of movable glass. There are a total of seven stacker doors, plus a few sliders, that open the house up to its architecturally landscaped gardens. The solar powered home is a lesson in how it’s possible to both inhabit a building yet reside with nature.

Of immediate impact upon entering the home is its central atrium garden, with a maple tree adding to the Japanese garden ambience. Glass walls surround this garden that’s open to the sky, with the two long walls featuring stacker doors, enabling the house to welcome the outdoors – both garden and sky – in.

That’s but the start. The home’s main living area wraps around an outdoor deck (topped by a slatted roof allowing for beautiful, filtered light and airflow.) Thanks to walls of glass, the view from the kitchen island travels over the dining room table to this deck, then through to the lounge and beyond to the expansive kwila deck out back that overlooks a man-made waterway. All these walls of glass are stacker doors, so the house can be opened from the kitchen right through to the deck at the back of the property. The hallway linking the kitchen to the lounge also features stacker doors opening to the covered outside area. There are, in fact, a total of six stacker doors in this main living hub, including one off to the side of the kitchen island where the side garden can be accessed. Along this same wall, the dining room’s built-in window seat languishes below a deep window with panes that also slide right back.

Then there’s the freestanding bath in the en suite, positioned behind – yes, moveable glass – so there’s a sense of bathing outdoors. Raised planter boxes provide privacy.

Given the home’s interconnectivity with nature, it’s little surprise that timber is beautifully showcased, and Annique Heesen from Gezellig Interiors has ensured natural hues abound in the interior design choices.

Attention-grabbers on the exterior of this singlelevel home are its curved vertical shiplapped cedar walls, and a boardwalk of timber leading to the front door. The cedar is repeated in various key places indoors. The foyer is an immediate example, with its cedar wall and ceiling creating a seamless connection from exterior to interior spaces. Cedar also features in the main bathroom, on the wall dividing the master bedroom from its en suite, and is the cladding of choice for the outdoor fire surround – the view of which can be enjoyed from all the main living areas.

The cedar happily cohabitates with the home’s eco-friendly cork flooring and wool carpet, and with the many attractive displays of American oak; this timber is used for the kitchen cabinetry, for example, and to frame cavity slider doors featuring beautiful reeded glass.

There’s much to delight throughout this house. The kitchen skylights with automatic rain sensors, the solar generation with battery storage, the limestone kitchen island bench, the traditional plaster render in the lounge and kitchen, and the carport (with great roadside appeal) in lieu of a garage.

The multi-functionality of one of the three double bedrooms also holds appeal. This bedroom features a double bed that folds down from the wall, has its own entry via an external sliding door, and incorporates a dual-access bathroom. It can easily be shut off from the house to form a private visitors’ pad or a workspace.

Adding to the overall appeal is the fact the home has been designed to gain 6 Homestar accreditation. “Eco-friendly materials and finishes” and “sustainability” have been guiding words in this showhome project. Along with the design itself, all the fixtures, fittings, and materials have been meticulously thought out and calculated to ensure they comply within Homestar guidelines. The design optimises passive solar energy, too.

This home is an example of the level of excellence that can be accomplished when design and construction collaborate. While any successful project starts with good design, the ability to translate the design into reality is another. Not an easy feat, in the case of this home, with curved walls and other seemingly simple detailing – trying to create these simple forms is, in fact, anything but simple and requires a high level of skill to execute.

The design brief for this house was Palm Springs with a mid-century modern approach. That box, and so many others, have been ticked. It’s little wonder that word on the street, surrounding this Montiicola Drive address, is that this house will be one to watch out for at architectural awards time.

THORNEGROUP.CO.NZ

“ALONG WITH THE DESIGN ITSELF, ALL THE FIXTURES, FITTINGS AND MATERIALS HAVE BEEN METICULOUSLY THOUGHT OUT AND CALCULATED TO ENSURE THEY COMPLY WITHIN HOMESTAR GUIDELINES.”