Architecture

Herrior Melhuish O’Neill Architects

With studios in Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland, Herrior Melhuish ONeill Architects are a diverse team with a wealth of architectural knowledge. Their extensive portfolio of both commercial and residential work showcases their dedication to creating unique and beautifully-crafted buildings that enrich the lives of those they serve.

Believing that the key to timeless and successful architecture is balancing clients needs, professionalism, and the nature of the site – they aim to incorporate all these factors into their design process.  This is evident in their design of this Peka Peka holiday home which turns its back on the ocean in favour of shelter and native trees behind the dunes.

In thick coastal bush between the road and the sand dunes, the driveway curves gently through tall stands of kānuka, Ngaio and pittosporum, before you finally catch a glimpse of the house hiding like a very flash hut among the trees. Not that similar thoughts had occurred to the project’s architect John Melhuish, of Wellington practice Herriot Melhuish O’Neill.

“Perhaps we should have painted it DoC green,” he deadpans, before confessing he’s more trail runner than tramper. However, it’s this sense of discovery, privacy and retreat that first attracted Melhuish’s clients to this patch of protected bush. And it’s these things that see the couple and their family travelling from their Wellington home most weekends.