Interior Spaces: Screen with a view
Auckland-based interior designer Amelia Holmes was responsible for the interiors in Artifact’s Jervois Road apartments.
A distinctive, undulating metal-screen façade catches the eye on Jervois Road.
The curvaceous façade skirts the southern elevation, creating a privacy screen for the interior.
Bespoke timber-veneer cabinetry features throughout the interior spaces.
Rendered plaster walls feature in the understated lobby at ground level.
Floor-to-ceiling glazing ensures residents enjoy the expansive views to the north.
Amanda Harkness visits Monk Mackenzie’s Jervois apartments in Auckland’s Herne Bay and finds an intriguing treatment of private and public realms.
There’s something about a Monk Mackenzie design that makes you catch your breath. Whether it’s the proposed Bond-esque X-House hovering above the land in Queenstown, the Foodstuffs North Island headquarters arcing gracefully between earth bunds, or the speculative, sculptural Skypath affixed to the Auckland Harbour Bridge, the studio’s projects are, at once, elegant, understated, exciting and ever-changing.
Now, the paradigm-shifting practice has brought its inspiration and artistry to Auckland’s Herne Bay in a recently completed medium-density project for property company Artifact.
Behind an undulating, metal-screen façade spanning four levels sit eight three-bedroom apartments offering unobstructed harbour views from their north-facing ridge-line position. The architects describe the eye-catching street elevation as a scaled interpretation of the bay window motif common to the surrounding villas.
From the street, the curvaceous exterior veil sets apart the public and private worlds, and offers some intrigue as to what can be found within.
An understated entry space leads to a generous central courtyard, designed to capture light and circulate air to each of the double-ended dwellings; all of these offer high studs and floor-to-ceiling glazing. Rendered plaster walls carry through from the lobby to the apartment living spaces, offsetting the wide, French-oak floorboards underfoot.
The interiors, designed by Amelia Holmes, exude warmth and richness. Natural materials, such as timber veneer cabinetry, stone kitchen elements and aged-brass details, are layered effortlessly throughout the living and dining areas, and natural stone basins in the bathrooms have been carved out of solid blocks of varying sizes to suit each vanity.
The above-code acoustic performance of the inter-tenancy separations, insulation and glazing to the street ensure the interior spaces are beautifully quiet, as if a world away from the boutique neighbourhood dining and shopping street below.
Jervois is a beautiful example of medium density done well, providing a stunning addition to the central city suburb in which it is sited.
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