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Cornege-Preston House by Bonnifait + Giesen

By Holly von Huene

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Wellington-based architectural firm Bonnifait + Giesen has designed the Cornege-Preston House.

This 2,153 square foot contemporary house is located on a one-hectare rural property in Martinborough, New Zealand.

Cornege-Preston House by Bonnifait + Giesen:

“The building sits on a one-hectare site of undulating grassland in the town of Martinborough in the Wairarapa region of New Zealand. As part of the project 400 trees were planted in a grid that parallels the site’s boundaries while the 40m x 6m house is angled to follow the gentle undulations of the land. The “landscape grid” enters into the house in the form of decks/garage and courtyards which punctuate the volume. The long façade faces northwest for maximum exposure to winter afternoon sun and, consequently, best passive solar-energy gains.

The key features are:
– Concrete floor and wall construction, with a ‘heat-sink’ (Trombe) wall between the main living area and the guest rooms.
– Water heating by solar Hot water panel on roof topped up by thermostat-controlled electricity.
– Multi-zone underfloor heating (also by thermostat-controlled electricity).
– Double-glazed windows and skylights for cross-room solar penetration and heat retention, with louvres and sliding doors for natural ventilation.
– Wall and ceiling insulation of Wool.
– Seperate Guest Wing with 2 ensuited double bedrooms.
– Views to the surrounding landscape from every room.
– Sustainably harvested macracarpa pine external cladding/decking and Italian poplar ceiling linings for visual warmth and acoustic absorption.
– Two 25,000 litre tanks capturing rainwater (meaning that town supply water usage is about one third of the metered allowance).
– A separately filtered (0.5 micron) and fast-heating water supply in the kitchen.”

Photos by: Paul McCredie

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About Holly von Huene

Holly is a freelance writer living in Toronto. She has written for HomeDSGN for more than 3 years and contributed architecture, interior design and lifestyle content for a number of other publications, including DesignBoom, Apartment Therapy and ArchDaily. Learn more about HomeDSGN's Editorial Process.

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