Grand Designs NZ: $ 5 Million Copper Home Owners Show Big ‘Leap of Faith’

REVIEW: If you had a waterfront site in a scenic location and you had a budget of $ 3 million, how much free rein would you give your architect? I guess not as much as the couple that appears in the final. Grand Designs NZ show this season.

Software developer Aaron Green and his wife Christine, a French academic, give local architect Michael O’Sullivan the broadest possible rundown for their new family home in Cass Bay near Lyttelton; they leave everything in their hands.

Even O’Sullivan himself says, “Every architect in the country would be putting their hand up to work on this, and with that comes an element of anxiety and expectation.”

If the architect is anxious, how do the owners feel? But it turns out that Aaron really likes taking risks; He did it with his software business 17 years ago and is now reaping the rewards. But he admits: “You have to be a little crazy to get something fun, extraordinary and different.

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O’Sullivan features an organic wave-shaped design they love, inspired by “landscape lyricism.” Moller describes it as “extremely unconventional,” which fits perfectly with a great design. It’s certainly a departure from the much favored black box glass canopies of recent years.

The house is supposed to be clad in cedar, but the cost is nearly $ 1 million. Gasp. Even Aaron flinches at that, so O’Sullivan suggests copper, which will age beautifully to a green patina.

It makes sense not to choose cedar, which will need maintenance every year at the seaside location. But will copper be an ecological problem in this environment? After all, it is a toxic material. But clearly, the local authorities are satisfied.

A high water table proves to be a problem: the hole for the underground basement continues to fill with water. Smart (expensive) engineering fixes this. Engineers design a heavy concrete structure to anchor the house to the ground so that it doesn’t float. (Who knows?)

Meanwhile, the couple do not really know how they are going to live in a curved house, or how it will work for them, or which rooms will be used for what purposes. This is strange, considering the money they are spending.

“This anxiety happens because we trust Michael and let him do his thing,” says Aaron. “We have an idea of ​​how it could work, but I think until we get here, we won’t know.”

REAL STARS OF THE SHOW

As construction progresses, it is clear that the real stars of this program are the team working on complex construction; those curves are a real mission for everyone. The site foreman says everyone contributes their ideas and one of them finally finds a solution.

There are even curved sliding glass doors with wood joinery. One of the young men on the carpentry team says that he can’t find anything like it on Google or YouTube. It’s about learning on the job.

And Aaron is on site “working from home” every day, which may not be easy for builders, but they are not complaining.

Interestingly, Aaron gives the neighbors a tour; this is a great idea and a good way to get them involved. The couple are well aware that the project is changing the local landscape and attracting attention. “For us doing this crazy build, it was always going to be ‘look at us, look at us,’” says Christine. “But we really didn’t want it to be that way.”

There’s a great shot when dozens of locals come up to see the action, and one says he thought it was going to be a community center. OK, it’s SO big.

There are constant design tweaks, small and large, during construction, so the cost skyrockets, but that doesn’t take Aaron away.

“You can’t put a price on something like this. You really can’t, ”she says happily.

“It’s a very seamless process, and we are very fortunate to have the family on board with that fluidity,” says O’Sullivan. He is right. These clients are an architect’s dream.

GREAT REVELATION – IT’S A WORK OF ART

There is a greater sense of anticipation for the big reveal of this project than I have seen in Grand Designs NZ prior to.

And not without good reason. The house is amazing. The “curve” flows around the corner site, with the contoured roof line falling downward at each end. Visually, it fits perfectly with the topography.

Moller’s “wow” isn’t always justified when he shows up for a reveal, but it is this time. For a nano-second he is even speechless.

The gleaming copper clad entry leads to the huge wood clad open plan living space that is flooded with natural light.

O’Sullivan has designed built-in furniture and it’s brilliant. Moller gives him the highest recognition: he compares him to the great legendary Frank Lloyd Wright and Alvar Aalto.

This is a very handcrafted house, right down to the Quail Island shaped coffee table in the harbor beyond, and the huge curved window in the stairwell. The architect has even convinced them to use brass kitchen cabinets, which he has never seen before. It’s not exactly necessary, but it’s impressive, with accessories designed by the architect himself.

Laura’s master suite and bedroom are on the upper level, where the views are even better. Tall copper racks are another masterful touch. And there is a hidden door from a mezzanine in Emma’s room downstairs, so the girls can climb from either bedroom onto a cargo net to just “hang out.” That is the dream of every child.

Then we can see the exhibition garage on the ground floor, a stainless steel prison toilet that is in keeping with the bunker feel of the basement, and the real pièce de résistance on this level: a hidden cinema and bar.

But do they love it? Of course they do. “The first weekend we were here, I texted Michael and said, ‘I actually understand what you were trying to do now,” says Christine.

And that budget? It turns out they have spent “a number starting with a 5”, counting construction, which was a little over $ 3 million, and including land and professional services. But this is not a temporary construction, they and the house are here forever.

Moller sums it up beautifully: “Everyone involved in this extraordinary project was taken out of their comfort zone, but together they created something truly extraordinary … it is a masterpiece.” And a fitting ending for a great series.