Cunningham House

Cunningham House was designed in two stages for two different owners. The original, was a 96m² bach, two mono-pitch timber boxes linked by a flat roof. The current owners commissioned an extension: main bedroom, ensuite, dressing room, study, entry-gallery and wine cellar. The house has more than doubled to 254.80m².

The timber approach across both stages is fundamentally expressive. Cunningham House exposes the timber as structure. Everything is visible: black steel fixing plates on the trusses, glulam portals cantilevering to provide shelter, the junction between old and new concrete slabs left as an honest mark. Nothing is hidden behind secondary linings.

Timber was chosen for the original because it delivered the character of a NZ vernacular bach the warmth, informality, sense of a building made by hand. When the extension was commissioned, timber became essential for a second reason: continuity. The same species, the same detailing, the same expressed structural logic allowed new to sit alongside old without visible discontinuity.

Inside, timber defines every space while allowing each its own character. The study is lined with timber floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. The use of bright colour, red, pink, yellow, blue, pops against natural timber and ply. Display shelving is sized for specific objects and floats above the floor and so light passes beneath. Gaboon ply has been used as lining and cabinetry, pine glulam as structural trusses, cedar shiplap cladding and lining and bandsawn pine plywood cladding complete the mix.

The courtyard created between old and new is framed by timber on all sides, extending the material's presence into the outdoor spaces.

Additional photography Ben Parry, Untitled Studio