An Adaptive Response – Sandringham House by Bureaux

As an embrace of its layered past, Sandringham House is the extension of a previous heritage home through a considered and sensitive lens. Bureaux draws on elements of endurance and timelessness to propose a home crafted to live steadily and aptly along with its family, able to grow and adapt with them.

 Defying the pull to design for the now, Sandringham House is conceived from a place of longevity and quality. Its embrace of the raw and honest sees a warm palette that brings together natural nuances and proposes an extension that opens the home and creates a welcoming place to gather for its current custodians. Extending from an existing heritage home, the decision was made early on to draw from context and to align the new with the old, instead of creating a series of volumes in contrast. The challenge to bring this level of sensitivity together with a contemporary relevance is made to look effortless and deliberate through a focus on form, light and considered insertions. Bureaux respectfully draw from the home’s past to create a home that adds additional refinement and layering, avoiding a dilution of the original’s intent.

A series of spaces funnel the original formal planning into a series of open and interchangeable spaces, reflecting a more contemporary home condition.

Located in the same-named Sandringham in Auckland, the family home was originally inherited in its dilapidated state, in need of much repair or, alternatively, replacement. Similar to any family home, estimating a future of potentially changing living conditions, varying levels of privacy, enclosure and separation over time requires a level of flexibility to the planning. Using the original home as a base, the renovation of the original villa structure then made way for the extension that followed. A series of spaces funnel the original formal planning into a series of open and interchangeable spaces, reflecting a more contemporary home condition.

Clearly defining the old and new, a link between the two acts as a threshold and expresses the change in time. The 120 square metre addition ties the external casing of white brick and timber joinery elements together across time periods, which is then brought inward. Taking advantage of the sloping terrain, the new addition steps down, ensuring the original roof profile is maintained, while adding substantial depth to the overall proportion and volume of the spaces created. Expressed through the double height gable space, a neutral base ensures an optimisation of the perceived feel of internal volume. Timber joinery is inserted to both add a textural warmth and a touch of the handmade, while the polished concrete flooring adds an element of robustness for the everyday markings of family life.

The 120 square metre addition ties the external casing of white brick and timber joinery elements together across time periods, which is then brought inward.

Sandringham House creates an overall feel of calm and quiet, as Bureaux filters the outdated and reinforces the enduring.