First & Second Year House Visit - Our House

Please join two distinguished architect, Lisa Webb from Studio LWA, at her award winning home in Westmere, talk to some architects, and enjoy refreshments, c/o NZIA.

About 'Our House':

This is a small house, on a small suburban site, on the ‘wrong side of the road’. It was really about trying to do the best I could for my family. But the exercise of trying to design as much amenity as possible into a half site might serve as a model for others.

I was thinking about the bungalows that surround us in Westmere. The California Bungalow is an old fashioned typology; a discreet, formal, but asymmetric, structure. I was thinking about the porch that faces the street, and the interior world, hidden behind it. I was interested in this pre-modern idea - the delineation between the inside and the outside, and how to interpret it in a contemporary manner. Inhabiting interior space, is for me a physical feeling. That feeling of space is created by the skin that contains or defines it. The exterior is the face to the street, but the interior is our world. I quite like the disparity between the outside face and the inside one. The outside tries to fit in. The inside is more complex, darker, more complicated, and just a little bit twisted.

The opening that forms our porch gives a glimpse of this disparity to the street. I think it might be a little confusing to the passer-by.

Please register with any dietary requirements by 27 July. The address will be announced prior to the event.