Jewel Box – Herne Bay Road House by Bureaux

Through an uncovering and emphasising of charm, Herne Bay Road House sees an existing heritage villa given a modern freshening. Bureaux draws on the existing character of the home and instead of expanding to a point of non-recognition, a jewel box of considered detailing awaits within a relatively unchanged exterior.

Set within a significant and established area of Auckland, Herne Bay Road House was initially acquired with the intention to expand and renovate. Through an analysis of the surrounding context, a more appropriate and sensitive response was put into action. Retaining the exterior and formal proportions of the existing home, the focus directs inward, where new works sculpt a unique modern home while retaining the memory of what existed prior. Building on its optimal north-west aspect and a natural interplay with incoming light, the interior becomes enlivened through a crafting of the interior lining as its own ‘jewel box’ of sorts on site. Bureaux captures the home’s artisanal lineage through a considered approach, where the handmade is expressed and new elements elevate the previous layered narrative of the spaces.

Through a focus on refinement, the home becomes layered with considered additions of luxury, adding a tactile opulence in the process and elevating the traditional family home.

Built by Raw Landscape and Built Ltd, Herne Bay Road House is reworked within the relatively unchanged footprint on site. As a three-bedroom family home, the planning and opening up of the existing formality reflects the unique way its current custodians live and interact, catering to their own nuanced understanding of spatial relationships. Through a focus on refinement, the home becomes layered with considered additions of luxury, lending a tactile opulence in the process and elevating the traditional family home. While the original planning was initially restrictive, by opening up both internally and between the inside and out, key connections are made beyond the building envelope, extending out to optimise the site in its entirety.

A restoration of the original timber floors together with the encasing timber datum panelled walls ensure a surrounding warmth is felt internally. The insertion of custom bathroom and storage spaces break up the existing formality and rigid separation, altering the way in which the home functions. Taking the focus away from the traditional axis of the original villa, rooms are interwoven and accessed from other vantage points, animating the home from differing directions. As an extension of the crafted past of the home, further insertions of robust surfaces ensure longevity, while curved features hint at the movement within, while adding a sculptural touch.

As an extension of the crafted past of the home, further insertions of robust surfaces ensure longevity, while curved features hint at the movement within, while adding a sculptural touch.

Bureaux’s Herne Bay Road House combines both bold and sensitive gestures to facilitate changed movement through and within the layered home, keenly connecting beyond the built form out into the natural.