Elevated Simplicity – Treetops by Adele McNab Architects

Responding to the high winds that buffet the site, Treetops sees a sloping roof encase a protruding form sitting lightly on a series of rounded steel columns, immersing the addition amongst the tree canopies. Adele McNab Architects celebrates a shared openness both internally and out into the natural elements, as the old and new converge through a series of considered gestures.

Like many of the homes in Grey Lynn, in inner Auckland, the allotment was both restrictive in size and navigated the sloping terrain. As a gesture that responds to these conditions, Adele McNab Architects proposes an addition that sits lightly on site, yet with clear direction. Surrounded by traditional Californian bungalow-style homes, Treetops takes inspiration from an open and connected lifestyle. In a dilapidated state, the original heritage home needed a refreshing renovation for its coming chapters. Honouring the past, the overlaying of a more purposeful connection to place together with the original handcrafted approach ensures the old and new coalesce across the site.

The coming-together of a sense of retreat together with an openness becomes an analogy for everyday life.

As a condition of its time, the original planning and formal separation of the home was at odds with a contemporary sense of connection and flow, both internally and with the site at large. In contrast and remedy to this, the conceived addition aims to provide a balance of open and closed, seeing generous spaces effortlessly flow from one into the other. While elements of the original home are restored to ensure an elongated and enduring presence on the site, the addition occupies two levels, with the lower-level hunkering into the slope of the site below. The upper level then sits as a more dramatic formal statement, linear as a lightly elevated modernist box. The coming-together of a sense of retreat together with an openness becomes an analogy for everyday life.

In carrying forward the legacy of the mostly timber original home, the material is used extensively within the new elements, yet in a more contemporary and streamlined manner. Creating clear visual and functional connections between the interior of the home and the garden and landscape spaces formed a core element of the brief, and glazing and operable façade features create connections that ground the home. From within, the treetops – the home’s namesake – are framed and become an animated scene that changes throughout the day and across the seasons.

From within, the treetops – the home’s namesake – are framed and become an animated scene that changes throughout the day and across the seasons.

In its calm resolve, Treetops uses simplicity and restraint to reinterpret the original intent of the home, creating an enduring family home that engages its site. Adele McNab Architects carefully layers the new with the old, while retaining a connection to the home’s origins.