Home New Zealand – August 01, 2019

Project

‘Suitcase’ house

Architect

David Melling,

Melling Architects

Location

Lyall Bay, Wellington

Brief

Fit a tiny home on

a bush-clad site for

a single occupant

who travels often

It’s fitting that Graeme Nicholls’ small home
is nicknamed ‘Suitcase’ house – the flight
manager spends more than 20 nights a
month living out of a suitcase in hotel rooms
here and across the Tasman.
When Nicholls bought the section on a
bush-clad hill above Wellington’s south coast
five years ago, he took on a challenge: it was
long and steep, with a flat area at the top and
a rundown garage near the bottom.
Nicholls was drawn to the sweeping view
across Lyall Bay and wanted to frame that,
but access to the top of the site was an issue.
Instead, architect David Melling chose to
build a narrow house following the slope of
the land on the accessible lower part of the
site. The biggest challenge, says Melling, was
excavating, which removed 95 cubic metres
of earth, and foundations. “The only way to
build this house was to build into the hill. The
biggest cost was the foundations because
you have to hunker into the hill.”
From the road, the black-aluminium-
corrugate-clad 60-square-metre house is
hidden and very private. Looking up to it from
the bay, a burst of orange on the exterior
panelling resembles a mandarin slice. “We
had a bit of fun with that,” says Nicholls.
The roofline slopes towards the road, and
the interior consists of two cubes that make
up a total of 36 square metres. The ceiling
is comprised of freezer panels and the walls
are ply and macrocarpa. The Qantas flight
manager was happy with a small, open-plan
living area in one module, with the bedroom
accessed via a couple of steps in the module
above. His sofa bed packs up, and the
compact bathroom off the living section
is all he needs.
Nicholls is used to the confines of hotel
rooms and came to Melling with images
of some of his favourite suites. He collects
architecture books and magazines – all of
which are on display. “Graeme’s original idea
was to plonk a room on the top of the garage,
and that’s what it has ended up being really –
a little hotel room on top of a modern garage.”

1 — The home is essentially a single room

positioned on top of a garage. 2 — An

interior cut-out creates a view shaft and

harnesses light on the south-facing site.

1

2

Travel sized

TEXT
SARAH CATHERALL

PHOTOGRAPHY
DAVID STRAIGHT