SWITCH Apartments - Auckland

2021-22

SWITCH will be a collection of 152 Homestar-rated apartments spread across four buildings in Newmarket, Auckland. High quality residential accommodation with bike friendly communal gardens and an electric car sharing scheme for residents. Redefining inner city New Zealand living.

The landscape design was uniquely tailored to meet the challenges of the enclosed site while preserving privacy and maximizing residents' views from the apartment windows. The design strategically uses lush native plantings to create a semi-tropical oasis within the development, providing a calm and inviting atmosphere for residents to enjoy.

Using asymmetrical cobble-style paving creates unique nooks for seating and viewing points with geometric stepping stones incorporated into the design, offering a fully immersive experience, allowing residents to explore and get amongst the outdoor environment. Combining these elements creates an inviting and engaging outdoor space that residents can enjoy throughout the year.

Additionally, the design incorporates a series of tensile steel mesh trellis systems to the long walls of Block B, providing an elegant and visually stunning frame for the native flowering climbers, Tecomanthe speciosa and Clematis paniculata. The result is a cascading wall of greenery that provides a breathtaking and organic compliment to the contemporary architecture of the apartments.

Accessibility was a key consideration in the design process; it was essential to ensure that the space was fully accessible to residents of all abilities. Wide main paths, free of vertical obstacles such as steps, and careful placement of landscape amenities ensure that everyone can easily navigate the space.

Overall, the landscape design for the SWITCH apartments intends to create a harmonious environment that provides residents with a serene and welcoming space to enjoy nature, relax, and connect with their community.

Client: Gibbons & Co www.gibbonsco.co.nz

Architects: Novak + Middelton www.novakmiddleton.co.nz

Status: Under Construction

Thirty Eight Sackville

Client: Gibbons & Co www.gibbonsco.co.nz

Architects: Novak + Middelton www.novakmiddleton.co.nz

Status: Consenting

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Remuera Medical Center

2021-22

The Remuera Medical Center is a mixed use residential and commercial development centered around the old Remuera Mall.

The project will see the old mall refurbished into a high end medical center by Fearon Hay Architects with Novak+Middleton Architects leading the transformation of the adjacent parking lot into 13 upmarket townhouses sitting atop the new parking structure.

The landscape challenge was to create a series of high quality planted zones on a constrained site that worked for multiple stakeholders. Of primary concern from the consenting council’s perspective was the building bulk, the medical center tenant needed a welcoming entrance, and the residential sites needed green amenity spaces to enjoy.

The result was a series of narrow perimeter gardens that cloak the buildings in greenery, with narrow specimen trees creating a tree top effect for residents, and underplantings of lush low growing natives welcoming residents, clients, and visitors to the site. In addition, a series of planter boxes were designed to sit at the upper level entrances to the residential units, providing additional building screening as well as space for residents to lounge outdoors.

Client: Gibbons & Co

Architects: Novak + Middelton, Fearon Hay

Status: Under Construction

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Milford Villas - Auckland

Client: Gibbons & Co

Architects: Novak + Middelton

Status: Completion Feb 2023

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Kapiti Road - Paraparaumu

Kapiti Terraces are a collection of 80 residential units spread out across a large centrally located site in Paraparaumu.

Consulted at the building consent and construction phase of the project the challenge here was to develop what was an exciting but fairly unresolved conceptual plan, into a solution that would work for our client from a construction and implementation perspective while still respecting the ambitions of that earlier design

The result was a refined design utilising more native species than what was initially proposed while retaining important aspects such as the Ginkgo biloba specimen trees to form an avenue entrance to the development and a mix of shared spaces including a central park, pocket parks and laneways which would provide communal recreation areas for the residents.

Using a greater variety of native species, suited to the local environment meant that once completed the site would be better able to respond to any climate extremes such as periods of drought or significant rainfall. Further, it meant that we could limit the amount of irrigation required to just the communal park, significantly reducing any demands on the on-site rainwater harvesting systems.

Client: Gibbons & Co www.gibbonsco.co.nz

Architects: Novak + Middelton www.novakmiddleton.co.nz

Conceptual Design: Boffa Miskell

Status: Under Construction