PROJECT
(^) // MOUNT ALBERT HOUSE
WORDS // JOHN WILLIAMS PHOTOGRAPHY // JAMIE COBEL
W
hen builder Nye O’Shannessy
and his designer wife Claire
bought their 1940s bungalow
in suburban Mount Albert,
they were faced with a common scenario for
Auckland homeowners — a large section with
a modest house sitting somewhere in the
middle. The question was how to maximise
their investment and still leave room for a
decent-sized family home.
With the new Unitary Plan now in force
in Auckland, the pressure is on to intensify
housing in the suburbs, so subdivision was an
obvious and straightforward option for the
couple and their two young daughters.
“After a bit of thought, we decided to move
the original house to the back of the section
and build a new house at the front,” says Nye.
“While we were building our new home, we
lived in the old house.”
Being a builder, Nye had all the necessary
skills to construct his home exactly how he
wanted, and to the standard he chose. What
he didn’t have was the design expertise to
realise his dream. That’s when he brought
in architect Jan Bernau. “I’d worked with
Jan before — particularly on this really tight
site in Point Chev, where he’d used the space
really well, which is exactly what we needed,”
says Nye.
“My immediate thought was a courtyard
house,” says Jan. “It was a small parcel
of land, hemmed in on three sides by its
neighbours, and there were no views to look
out to. It’s like meditation ... you want to look
in, not out,” he adds.
Nye’s brief to Jan was fairly basic.
Primarily, he wanted to maximise the
living spaces. Other than that, his requests
were modest — a separate master suite,
tucked away from the rest of the house, two
identical bedrooms (to avoid arguments) for
his children with a shared bathroom, and
a TV lounge that could function as a fourth
DETAILS
HOUSE MOUNT ALBERT HOUSE
LOCATION MOUNT ALBERT, AUCKLAND
“THERE WERE NO
VIEWS TO LOOK
OUT TO. IT’S LIKE
MEDITATION ... YOU
WANT TO LOOK
IN, NOT OUT”
- JAN BERNAU
ED’S FAVE
THE OUTDOOR
COURTYARD, WHICH
CAN BE ENJOYED
FROM THE OPEN
LIVING SPACE