Luxury Wanaka House, New Zealand

Auckland-based design studio Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects has designed the Wanaka House project, the single-storey contemporary property can be found in Wanaka, New Zealand.

According to the architects: The contemporary New Zealand house was conceived as objects on the land, immersing the user in the surrounding natural landscape and the changing seasons.

“The house is low slung and nestled into the landscape, wedged into a gentle gully on the site, allowing for privacy from surrounding dwellings and protection from the northwesterly wind. The contemporary New Zealand property is elegant and transparent, an object touching the land lightly.

“The garage to the east is disconnected from the main house allowing for a modulation of the built forms in the landscape. This is also the entry point to the house, moving between the timber garage wall along a sculpted gabion wall. Steel sections placed in this wall provide light shafts into the east of the house.

“The property is to be enjoyed throughout the year, socially and as a retreat from hectic city life.”

Contemporary Urban Ravine, Toronto

Toronto-based design studio Bortolotto Design Architect have designed the Urban Ravine House.  The contemporary property can be found in Toronto’s Summerhill neighbourhood, Canada.

According to the architects: “The original 1,600 square foot, darkly traditional, staid 2 1/2 storey house was designed without consideration of its breathtaking ravine site. Today, sits a 4,000 square foot, four-storey contemporary Canadian home that is oriented at all four levels to the natural beauty of the ravine to the south, with views to the city’s towers during the winter months and with views of a natural forest in the summer months. The house now has two faces, the traditional one facing the street and a modern one open to the ravine.

“The driving concept in the design of the contemporary Toronto house is to connect it to the outside world. At the rear of the house which faces south, the inside is connected to the rear yard ravine through views to the spectacular landscape, the city and sky, and through outdoor decks and steps that lead down the sloped forested yard. As well, natural light is introduced to the centre of the house from the roof to the ground floor through a continuous vertical opening of a glass and wood central staircase via a skylight.

“With design emphasis on openness and brightness, the fluidity of the contemporary Toronto property is reinforced by opening it up to natural light with glazing on the south side, the use of translucent walls and surfaces, and a double height space that serves the main living area; the family room. Overhangs at the south side are introduced to keep direct sunlight from entering through the glazing during summer months.”

Luxury Vaucluse House A, Sydney

Double Way-based Bruce Stafford Architects have designed the A House Vaucluse. This contemporary property can be found in a suburb of Sydney, Australia.

According to the architects: “The contemporary Sydney home is situated on a narrow site with waterfront at one short end and parkland along the long northerly side. The prime design generator was to frame the various view opportunities from the moment one arrived off the street, by creating a range of different spaces, all connected to a central vertical and horizontal circulation spine on the long axis of the site. This resulted in a series of courtyards and volumetric experiences until arriving at the edge of the infinity pool.

“The courtyard and double volume living area allow other spaces to ‘borrow’ views by looking through them. The use of natural, textural finishes was core to the design brief as the clients wanted a warm, earthy aesthetic. Rich stone elements such as backlit Onyx and dry stacked quartz stone walls provide highlights in the material palette of this contemporary Australian home.

Contemporary Castlecrag Residence, Sydney

Darlington-based CplusC Architectural Workshop have designed the Castlecrag Residence. The contemporary property can be found in Sydney, Australia.

According to the architects: “At the Castlecrag Residence, a cellular and inward-looking mid-20th century brick bungalow has undergone a vast transformation.

“Clarity of planning places private bedroom spaces on the first floor and public living and social spaces on the ground floor. The Kitchen has become the pivotal room in the contemporary Australian house, connecting indoor living spaces and extending out to a double-volume outdoor living space that leads down to the garden. High level glazing allows northern light into the heart of the home, and through the double height stair hall to the entry.

“The contemporary Sydney property opens to a generous garden to the north while the neighbours on three sides are visually screened by a timber pavilion creating a peaceful oasis within a dense suburban context for the clients and their young family.

The Fabulous Brown Street Residence, Brisbane

Fortitude Vally-based design studio Shaun Lockyer Architects has completed the Brown Street House. The contemporary property can be found in Brisbane, Australia.

According to the architects: “The contemporary Brisbane house is a reinterpretation of the Queenslander cottage. It reinvigorates the plan to offer alternatives to how spaces are used. The interplay and juxtaposition of the new and old is through material expression and form, and the cantilevered cottage is a deliberate subversion of the Queenslander paradigm and aims to recalibrate the perception of the house.

“Using the kitchen as a ‘node’ around which spaces are ordered, integration and balance between the indoor and outdoor domains is achieved. Access to north sun and light always shapes a great deal of the planning, and the manipulation of void and volume facilitate the transformed experience of the space.

“The idea of craft making, primarily through the use of timber detailing, is very important. The control of view and amenity through the manipulation of window openings and selective use of screening also plays a critical role in the contemporary Brisbane house.”