Multiple award-winning architect Ken Crosson and his team in the Coromandel gained international accolades for this Light Shaft house.
An NZIA national architectural winner (2021) and also a finalist in the World Architectural Festival 2021, this house is an exploration of strong sculptural forms that represent the mine shafts of long abandoned gold mines within the surrounds of a historic kiwi town.
Reclaimed Totara from a swamp has been used for the cladding, and also reused as a rain screen.
This timber, imbued with the colours of the coast, is contrast to the rich and highly crafted light timber interior of the house.
The shafts of this house are inverted – mining the sunshine and starlight and extending into the sky, as opposed to the earth.
The social organisation of the plan is relaxed and loose, appropriate for retreat, and laid out as a series of parts able to either be lived in privately and independently, or opened up to connect the buildings and enliven the outdoor space between.
Varying heights and positions of the shafts break up the form on the ridgeline establishing an identity and interest.
The house steps forward and back, the plan mapping the movement of the sun. Deep overhangs provide protection from the summer sun and entry of the winter sun. The decks fore and aft allow spatial extension into the landscape.
At Crosson Architects we understand, orchestrate and manipulate the built environment to be not only functional but also beautiful.
Great architecture comes from positive collaboration – drawing together a team of creative thinkers, technicians and fabricators.
At the heart of the process is the collaboration between the client and the architect. At Crosson Architects we create – and the process is vigorous and robust, rich and rewarding. Amongst other elements we consider the physical, psychological and spiritual – achieving an outcome that is unique and life enhancing.