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.

Updated: World Architecture Festival - the NZ finalists

Seven New Zealand projects have been listed as finalists in the World Architecture Festival, to be held in Singapore in October. 

The Auckland Art Gallery, designed by FJMT and Archimedia, is a finalist in the festival's 'Culture' category (photo below by Patrick Reynolds). 

 















The Whakatane Library and Exhibition Centre (below) by Irving Smith Jack Architects (a recent winner in the NZIA national awards), is a finalist in the 'New and Old' category.

A housing development at 387 Tamaki Drive, Auckland, by Sydney-based Ian Moore Architects is a finalist in the 'Housing' category (below).

The Mackelvie Street development in Ponsonby, Auckland, by RTA Studio in is a finalist in the 'Shopping' category (below, photo by Jackie Meiring).

Also by RTA Studio, the planned 'Ice Hotel' in Queenstown is a finalist in the 'Future Projects - Leisure Led Development' category.  

An Alexandra house, also by Irving Smith Jack Architects, is a finalist in the 'Villa' category (photo below by Patrick Reynolds; look out for this in an upcoming issue of HOME).

 

The Auckland Zoo giraffe house (rendering below), by Glamuzina Paterson and Hamish Monk Architects, is a finalist in the 'Display' category. 

Congratulations to all the finalists! We'll keep you up to date with details later in the year when the winners are announced at the festival.

California Design - an interview with co-curator Bobbye Tigerman

The epitome of California style: The Kaufmann House in Palm Springs, designed by Richard Neutra in 1946.
Photo by Julius Shulman, 1947.© J. Paul Getty Trust. Used with permission. Julius Shulman Photography Archive, Research Library at the Getty Research Institute.

Design aficionados, pay attention: starting this Saturday, Auckland Art Gallery plays host to California Design: Living in a Modern Way, a major (and majorly successful) show that originated from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. It showcases the best of a golden and globally influential period in California design and architecture, and we can’t wait to see it. HOME editor Jeremy Hansen talked to the exhibition’s co-curator, Bobbye Tigerman, about the show (this interview is also featured in our current issue of the magazine).

HOME First of all, some context: what is California design to you – and what was going on in California at the time that created the energy that this show encapsulates?
BOBBYE TIGERMAN, CO-CURATOR The California Design show we organised [co-curated with Wendy Kaplan] covers the years from 1930 to 1965. This was a time of incredible innovation and extraordinary growth in California. The population grew significantly with the Depression, when people were looking for jobs, and with the onset of World War Two a lot of industries were located in northern and southern California. You had a huge population of educated people coming here and they all needed a place to live. There was a big demand for new home construction and, as a result, there was a lot of opportunity for new design and architecture. There was this widespread recognition that California was a place where things were possible: the rules could be bent and even broken. It drew a lot of very creative people who did a lot of interesting things during that time.

What made you want to do the show?
When Wendy and I realised that there had never been a show on the subject we were kind of shocked. We knew it was important to do and do quickly because so many of the artists were still alive and we could talk to them and capture their stories. The show turned out to be wildly popular — we had 363,000 visitors, making it the fifth most-attended show at LACMA.

The show draws on examples of architecture, design and craft. What do these sometimes disparate occupations have in common?
Including both design and craft was an easy choice, as the designers of the era didn’t really make distinctions between them. We started off thinking we’d focus on design for the home, but we quickly realised we were going to have to break our rules and include fashion, jewellery, and graphic design, because they were so compelling and so connected to the other designers and industries. We were trying to reflect the era.

Why has this period of design remained so influential and potent to this day?
I struggle with this question a lot. I think there are a couple of reasons. One is I think we have a nostalgia for a time – even if we didn’t live through the post-war era – when there was a lot of opportunity, the ability to achieve the good life. It seemed much more possible then than it does today. I think aesthetically it’s very simple and clean; it was always meant to be futuristic and it’s still the future, so if you’re interested in being a modern person it still has those connotations. It’s still widely available, it’s not wildly expensive.

Almost all the items in the show could be characterised as possessing a certain sense of optimism. What’s happened to that optimism? Does California still possess that cultural primacy?
The show ends in 1965 – the design industry changed rather drastically around that time, so that kind of design community that existed in the post-war years is no longer there. I think if you want to identify what California design means in the latter part of the 20th century it would be hardware and software focused in Silicon Valley. It’s now literally changing how everybody lives and interacts with each other. It’s different, but I think the region still has broad influence.

What’s your own place like?
I live in an apartment building that was built around 1948 or so. I do like mid-century design, and I have some things from the era in my house, but I try not to make it a time capsule.

For more information and to purchase discounted early-bird tickets to California Design: Living in a Modern Way, visit the Auckland Art Gallery's website here. The show opens Saturday July 6 and runs until September 29.

Design Awards 2013 - the winner!

The results are in! Congratulations to Simon James and Scott Bridgens, whose 'Hex' pendant light takes top honours in our furniture and lighting Design Awards 2013. 

The 'Hex' pendant is a sleek, minimal beauty designed for Resident Studio that combines cutting-edge LED lighting technology with an elegant aluminium frame suspended from three slim wires (two of which, rather miraculously, also supply electricity for the light). It was launched at Milan Design Week in April and is already attracting serious international attention - deservedly so.

See this and our stellar lineup of Design Awards finalists in our new issue, on newsstands from Monday June 3. The photo is by Toaki Okano, and was styled by Sarah Conder and Juliette Wanty. Thanks also to Blum, our Design Awards partner, for their support. 

Our new cover

Here's the cover of our special Design Issue, featuring a group of our stunning furniture and lighting Design Awards finalists. The photo is by Toaki Okano, and the shoot was conceptualised and styled by Sarah Conder and Juliette Wanty. 

We don't like to brag, but we think this issue's an absolute peach. It focuses on the homes of product designers like IMO's Sam Haughton and Hannah Brodie and their enviable inner-city Auckland pad, or industrial designer Ross Stevens, who worked for Philippe Starck in Europe and is building an amazing Wairarapa home out of recycled coolstore panels. 

In this issue, we also travel to Canada's icy Fogo Island to visit artist Kate Newby, who's on a residency in an incredible studio there. And we go to Antarctica to see the restoration job on Robert Falcon Scott's rudimentary huts.

Also! We check out typographer Len Cheesman's lovely Greytown garden, our correspondents report back from Milan Design Week, we inspect a delightful dessert restaurant in Auckland by Cheshire Architects, and much more....

We hope you enjoy it. The issue's on newsstands from Monday June 3.

The winners in the New Zealand Architecture Awards

There's a bunch of terrific buildings in the New Zealand Architecture Awards, bestowed at a function in Auckland last night (May 24) by the NZ Institute of Architects. 

First, congratulations to Fearon Hay Architects: The Imperial Buildings, a refurbishment of an abandoned Auckland theatre complex (featured in our February/March 2012 issue), won the highest honour, the New Zealand Architecture Medal. Well-deserved, we reckon. The photo is by Patrick Reynolds.

The judges' citation said "the conversion of older buildings to new purposes ... signals a greater awareness of the worth of existing buildings, and of the possibilities they offer to imaginative clients and architects." The building also won an award in the Heritage category.

We'll look at the winners of the New Zealand Architecture Awards for housing next. Nice to see the Lake Hawea courtyard house (below) by Glamuzina Paterson Architects, a finalist in our Home of the Year award, getting recognised here, too. The photo is by Patrick Reynolds.

Glamuzina Paterson Architects picked up a second housing gong for the 'S' house (below) in Auckland's Mount Eden, which featured in our August/September 2012 issue.

Stevens Lawson Architects picked up a housing award for this home (below) in Waiake Beach in Auckland. 

And another housing award went to the Regent Park Apartments for City Housing in Wellington (below), designed by Designgroup Stapleton Architects.

The First Light House by First Light Studio (designed while its members were students at Victoria University of Wellington) picked up an award for International Architecture. It appeared at the Solar Decathlon in Washington, DC, and is now located on a site in Hawke's Bay, which we're looking forward to showing you in an upcoming issue. 

This place (below) isn't technically a home - it's 'The Shack' at Cloudy Bay in Marlborough, a place where guests of the vineyard can stay. It was designed by Tim Greer and Paul Rolfe and it won an award for Commercial Architecture. You might remember it from our August/September 2012 issue. 

Patterson Associates picked up a commercial award for the Geyser building in Parnell, Auckland (below), as well as an award for Sustainable Architecture.

  
And the third commercial architecture award went to Architecture + for Telecom Central in Wellington (below). 

In the education category, Architectus won an award for their design of the St Cuthbert's College Performing Arts Centre in Auckland (below). 

We always enjoy the Enduring Architecture category, and this year's winner is a treat: the School of Music at the University of Auckland by Hill Manning Mitchell (below). This shot is of the lovely courtyard behind the lyrical blank facade. Go in for a look if you're passing by - the building's in lower Symonds Street.

In the Planning and Urban Design category, there were two awards. The first went to Architectus for their work on the Karanga Plaza and kiosk at Auckland's North Wharf (below). 

The other Planning and Urban Design award went to the Buchan Group for Re:START, Christchurch's lively container mall (below).

In the Public Architecture category, Tennent + Brown and SKM won an award for the ASB Sports Centre in Kilbirnie, Wellington (below). 

Also winning a Public Architecture award was Athfield Architects' Te Hononga/Christchurch Civic Centre (below). It also won a Sustainable Architecture award.

Still in the Public Architecture category: the third winner of a Public Architecture Award was Pearson & Associates for the Rotoroa Exhibition Centre on Auckland's Rotoroa Island (below). 

The last Public Architecture Award went to Nelson's Irving Smith Jack for their design of the Whakatane Library and Exhibition Centre (below). 

Two to go, both in the category of Small Project architecture. The Wellington Zoo Hub by Assembly Architects (below) picked up one of these prizes.

Finally, the last NZ Architecture Award for 2013 went to Ken Crosson of Crosson Clarke Carnachan for the Hut on Sleds at Whangapoua on the Coromandel Peninsula, a finalist in our 2012 Home of the Year award. 

Oh wait - how could we forget? Each year the NZ Institute of Architects also awards a Gold Medal for career achievement, which this year goes to Auckland architect Pip Cheshire (below) of Cheshire Architects (you might remember the Bambury house from our February/March 2009 issue, which he designed, and also the Mountain Landing house which graced the cover of our June/July 2011 issue). We've got an interview with Pip in our June/July issue, on newsstands June 3. Congratulations to him and all the New Zealand Architecture Award winners.