Remuera Townhouse

This project was an update of a classic 1980’s Marshall Cook townhouse for a client with contemporary tastes. Marsh is an inventive and considerate architect, conscious of comfort and light. He understood well the rituals and routines of domestic life, and this reworking is based upon the excellent planning and ‘bones’ he created.

Updates include a remodelled kitchen and bathroom, precisely detailed elements (including a wonderful handrail for the stair, a new fire screen, and under window-seat storage – all finely crafted from bronzed steel). This design is about layering texture; the once-rimu kitchen was reworked as an extension of the larger space and, throughout, wall and ceiling surfaces have been redone with eggshell plaster. The material palette includes bleached maple and marble, fine black hardware, flat weave natural-fibre carpet, and bronze accents. Of the bespoke furniture, a ‘cards room’ bookshelf, made from antiqued oak and with wire-brushed shelves and aged-bronze facings, is a studio favourite.

Photography by Jackie Meiring