Residential >> Grand Designs 45 degree house
Wellington architect Nic Ballara turned an `impossible’ building project into a dream home.
`Mission impossible’ a truly grand design Russell Fredric Wellington architect and director of BBC Architects, Nic Ballara, has turned an apparently impossible building project into
a dream home which featured on TV3’s Grand Designs New Zealand last November. Nic Ballara says he and his wife Callie bought a steeply sloping section in 2011. “We bought the section because it’s an amazing spot close to town, but also the postcard picture views of Wellington. I fell
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“Impossible section, impossible budget and impossible neighbours. Do you think there’s a story in this?”
in love with it,” Nic Ballara says. With an average slope of 45 degrees and parts at 60 degrees, Callie initially took some convincing about the merits of the section, Nic Ballara says. While facing his first hurdle to build on the site when a neighbour opposed resource consent, Nic emailed TV3 with a brief of his plans - “Impossible section, impossible budget and impossible neighbours. Do you think there’s a story in this?” - which piqued the channel’s interest. With engineer, John Wilson from King & Dawson, on board and fellow Wellingtonian Phil Stewart of PLS Consulting as the project’s manager, who also “got the vision”, construction got underway.
As seen on NZ Grand Designs’ 45 Degree House New house builds, house extensions, small scale commercial construction, steel frame consultancy, decking, retaining walls/fencing, sheds/garages 027 270 4247 dan@dkcbuilding.co.nz www.dkcbuilding.co.nz 40 Building Innovations NZ
The site’s precipitous nature meant there was none of the usual accessibilty or platform for construction workers. “It was an incredibly difficult logistical project. We had a 25 metre high scaffold built which the house was hanging on for large parts of the project.” “We had to work out how to build it. The engineer was an integral part of that and there’s no way it could have happened without the imagination of the engineer.” The 220 square metre, four level house is a vertical wedge shape grounded 17 metres below street level on a small foundation, which extends vertically 12 metres, to connect with the suspended garage slab above.