We like: Milse's sweet treats at Auckland's Britomart

We like the sublime, sweet offerings of dessert restaurant and patisserie Milse (pronounced 'Mil-say', and is Gaelic for 'sweet') as much as we like its dramatic interior. 

The cocoon-like space in Auckland's Britomart opened recently and supplies desserts to neighbouring Ortolana restaurant as well as hosting diners at tables of its own, and offering takeout. 

The space was designed by Cheshire Architects. HOME editor Jeremy Hansen spoke to Nat Cheshire about the design, and to Milse's executive pastry chef Brian Campbell about the amazing food. These photographs are by David Straight.

HOME What was your brief for the space, and how did you go about filling it?

NAT CHESHIRE, CHESHIRE ARCHITECTS Within this left-over back-alley space we needed to offer an immersive and transformative experience, shaping spaces around some of the most ambitious dessert cooking in the country. We were inspired by the Arabian history of dessert-making to create an interior that folds together the crystalline structure of sugars and the delicate tracery of carved wooden moucharaby panels.

HOME How does it feel to be in the space?

NAT CHESHIRE The goal is a world of quiet delight within a chaotic left-over geometry surrounded by service lanes and delivery trucks outside. Milse has a cave-like intensity within the quiet complexity of its filigree surface. We hope this means it feels like another world entirely.

HOME I remember people eating their feelings at Death by Chocolate in the 80s. How is Milse different from the dessert restaurants of that era?

BRIAN CAMPBELL, EXECUTIVE PASTRY CHEF I think people are now eating a lot more casually – it’s the norm to restaurant-hop. Our approach is to focus on the best of seasonal products as well as showcasing premium ingredients such as chocolate and spices to give people an amazing dessert experience, whether they’re eating in or taking away.

HOME What’s your favourite thing on the menu at the moment?

BRIAN CAMPBELL I like the passionfruit and apple salted caramels.

NAT CHESHIRE I am trying to eat my way through everything, one hemispherical salted caramel gelato cake at a time.

Milse is at 27 Tyler Street, Britomart, Auckland, ph 09 368 9487 (no reservations accepted).

 

Outtakes: Devonport house by Michael O'Sullivan

We really like this home in Devonport, Auckland, by architect Michael O'Sullivan of Bull O'Sullivan Architects (who also designed our Home of the Year in 2011). The long form of the home is clad in white weatherboards, while the interior is a deliberate contrast, full of warm timber. In the photo below, the home's co-owner Iain Wood sits just outside the property. Emily Andrews took the photographs, and Yvette Jay styled the shoot.

The opulent herringbone patterned ceiling (below) is a metaphorical protective cloak thrown over the family. The kitchen, with its dramatic onyx island, features north-facing windows with vertical timber mullions that cast ever-changing patterns of light and shadow through the house.

This is the view out the other side of the living space (below), where Iain admires the sight of Auckland's Waitemata Harbour from the sofas designed by his wife, Jes. The pendant lights in this room were designed by Michael O'Sullivan and blown by Lava Glass. The 'Pebble' tables by Jerry Low and Nathan Yong and the 'Caro' rug by Carmen Stallbaumer are both Ligne Roset from Auckland's Domo Collections.

Michael tucked a downstairs rumpus room for Iain Jes' daughters on the lower level of the house and lined the space in ply (below) with a deep red carpet. 

The pared-back main bedroom (below) features monochromatic bed linen from Seneca and a bedside table from BoConcept. Michael's aesthetic reference for the home's white weatherboard exterior and warm interior was Rangiatea, the famous Maori church in Otaki.

The photo below shows the home's long, low roof pitch, which references the 1950s designs by Group Architects, many of which were also constructed on the North Shore.

My Favourite Building: Michael Lett

We've been running our 'My Favourite Building' page at the back of the magazine since 2005, and recently decided it'd be quite fun to look back over some of the people and buildings we've featured. Earlier this year, Auckland gallerist Michael Lett chose Queen Street's Metro Centre (the big cinema complex with the IMAX theatre, behind the Civic), a mid-1990s exercise in futurism by Walker Group Architects. The photo is by Alastair Guthrie (Michael's head is just visible peering off the bridge at the top).

Here's what Michael had to say about why he likes the building.

“Before this space became Queen Street’s Metro Centre, it had DKD café and a Hare Krishna vegetarian café and was somewhat bohemian. When the new building went up it was fabulously ugly and I hated it, but over the years it’s become more decrepit and I’ve warmed to it. It’s dawned on me that this could be the Civic Theatre of my generation. 

"In Auckland there is a tendency to continually renovate or try to improve existing architecture, often to the detriment of the building. I was quite sad when they got rid of the Metro Centre’s rocket-shaped pillars and the tube TVs with their fibreglass, bug-like screens above the movie counter – I tried to buy one but they’d been thrown out. 

"If we leave this place alone for 50 years we’ll be revelling in its design. It’s a fine example of the façadism trend, and it’s so 90s with the overtones of sci-fi futurism in its fitout. And who doesn’t love a rocket lift?”

Outtakes: A Mount Maunganui marvel by Evan Mayo

Mount Maunganui is one of New Zealand's favourite summer destinations, but when Heather Coyne and Mark Winter asked Hamilton-based architect Evan Mayo of Architecture Bureau to design them a holiday home there, they never envisaged they'd end up moving there permanently. 

It's a credit to Evan's smart design that they did so. Heather and Mark found the single-level holiday house he created so pleasing that they decided to move there full-time. The main house, beautifully photographed by Florence Noble, features a handsome, compact, three-bedroom structure with high ceilings made from hoop-line plywood. Importantly, the property's original cottage was retained on the site, and now doubles as a home office and spare bedroom. It's visible in the right of the photo below, and is one of the few original dwellings remaining on the Mount Maunganui beachfront promenade.

The tyre-swing that hangs from the pohutukawa down the drive and the central decking between the original property and the modern building (below) perfectly respond to the brief of this holiday home being "a place for the kids to grow up" says Mark.

The view from the kitchen cleverly looks over the home's living and decking area so Heather and Mark can keep an eye on their grandchildren at play (below) and enjoy the sunshine when they feel like it.

The extended eave over the deck offers shade and shelter (below), while the deck integrates well with the surrounding landscaping, which expertly manages the transition from the lower-level carport to the home itself. Inside, clerestory windows on the home's western elevation allow good ventilation and afternoon light.

The living area features the Focus 'Ergofocus' fireplace designed by Dominique Imbert, which warms the area on cold winter nights. The pendant lights above the kitchen bench were purchased on TradeMe.

 

The shot below shows the connection between the open-plan living space and main bedroom and en suite. Two additional smaller bedrooms are tucked into the home's western side, but when no visitors are staying, the home feels like a simple apartment for Heather and Mark.

The retention of the original cottage (below) is a sympathetic masterstroke. On a street where a number of homes look like they're on steroids, Evan's sensitive design retains something of the diminutive age-old scale of this beachside community, as well as providing privacy for Heather and Mark's new home.

  

The following photograph is from just across the road from the house, with Mount Maunganui beach's wild-daisy covered dunes extending into the distance. 

 

We like: Rekindling Christchurch

We like Christchurch's Rekindle, a fascinating firm making furniture out of demolition timber. We also like Shop Eight, the great cafe in New Regent Street it shares its headquarters with. HOME's Jeremy Hansen spoke to Juliet Arnott, Rekindle's founder, about the business. Guy Frederick took the photographs.

Juliet Arnott, Rekindle's founder, in Shop Eight cafe. She's sitting at a table by Rekindle

HOME We love your new café and studio space. What is it comprised of?

JULIET ARNOTT Downstairs is Liz Phelan’s Shop Eight, a café we built from materials diverted from landfill including handcrafted Rekindle furniture. Upstairs is our Rekindle shared studio space. In a city where built space is so limited we’re happily working to use the small space as resourcefully as we can. We hold evening events and forums that invite discussion from a diverse audience on topics of concern. It's certainly a space that encourages conversation. 

Shop Eight cafe is located in the refurbished Christchurch heritage zone of New Regent Street.

What is Rekindle, and what made you want to start it?  

Rekindle came out of my therapeutic concerns as an occupational therapist for those who have barriers to coping in working life, and my desire to use a creative process to problem-solve wood waste. I began to see that these concerns could be met via a social enterprise that uses wood waste to create employment and beautiful products. This began in Auckland but soon after the earthquakes I decided it was time to move back to Christchurch. Rekindle is young, but we are flowing some work to community groups here who need it, and building demand for our furniture in the store and online.

A Rekindle chair in the company's workshop.

You’re located in a strange heritage oasis in the midst of the red zone. What’s that – and life in Christchurch generally – like at the moment?  

Yes it is strange, a beautiful old street set against a backdrop of demolition. We value the heritage enormously and have kept the street signage from the mid 1900s. The realities of loss are still very present in Christchurch, and we feel this particularly in our salvage work with home owners. But innovation and hope are strong features of daily life here, there are many passionate discussions about what could be. 

Rekindle furniture outside Shop Eight in Christchurch's recently reopened New Regent Street.

Shop Eight and Rekindle are located at 8 New Regent Street, Christchurch. Click here for more information about Rekindle. 

Outtakes: A beautiful beach getaway by Min Hall

It's that time of year when we start fantasising about taking a break - not an all-action holiday, but something quiet and wintry that mostly involves reading books around a fire. This home by architect Min Hall in Golden Bay seems to fit that description perfectly.

First, the plan, which is interesting in its own right. Min broke the house into modules designed to fit around the trees. There is one living and dining area, another wing for the main bedroom and the third for guests (below). The sea is on the eastern boundary, or right-hand side of the plan.

The photograph below (all these images were taken by Paul McCredie) shows the approach to the house, where cars pull up to the back of the house. Min designed the home's modules to be clad in different materials to break up the bulk of the building even further. Covered walkways connect the home's different parts.

Inside, the house has elegantly simple aesthetics - only two pieces of art feature in the property, so not to distract from its surroundings -  yet there are some unique design elements which define the house.

The box window in the dining area (below) is likened to a museum display and exaggerates the feeling of looking inwards through the forest. A Simon James-designed 'Hawk' table accompanies seating by Marc Zuckerman and a smaller rustic 'Uma' bench by Chad Heays.

Huge folding doors off the living area allow a large panorama of the bay (below).

Perhaps even better is the view from the main bedroom where, at high tide, water gently laps on the shore just a few metres away. This is the kind of thing real holidays are made of - when staying in bed seems like one of the best ways to enjoy the views.

Outtakes: McKinney's transformed Kingsland Villa

Architect Jack McKinney's Auckland villa renovation featured in our June/July 2012 issue, and remains one of our favourites. In some ways, it was a classic bang-out-the-back scenario - albeit with a much more sophisticated approach. These photographs are by Patrick Reynolds. In this shot, you can see how Jack's addition preserves the line of the hallway, which runs clean through to the back yard.

After travelling past bedrooms and bathrooms, visitors to the home enter the addition, and an expansive, contemporary open-plan living, dining and kitchen space (below). The twin peaks of the additions roof stretch northwards, flooding the space with light throughout the day while maintaining privacy from the neighbouring houses. The 'Van Dyck' dining table is by Rodolfo Dordoni for Minotti from ECC, and the 'Flo' dining chairs are by Patricia Urquiola for Driade from Indice. The orange 'Strips' sofa is by Cini Boeri for Arflex.


McKinney's stainless steel kitchen exudes simplicity. Suspended above the bench is a copper pendant light (below) made by Jack from waxed copper plate.

The view below shows the home's peaked roofline and dramatic windows. The sun moves through the space like a sundial throughout the day.

Out the back of the house is the studio (below), which was originally an old garage. Its peaked roof echoes that of the home's extension.

When it came to furnishing the studio interior (below), Jack made a refreshing decision: "I like leaving it empty," he says. He also kept the concrete floor of the original garage.

This view (below) looks from the studio back to the main house.