nut
  • site location: 160 Raroa Road, Kelburn, Wellington, NZ
  • client: “we design.all-sorts ltd” (Gary Venter and Ingrid Ludwig)
  • project status: scheme design complete investigations ongoing, Building Approval documentation in progress on hold until Wellington’s building industry gets a grip.
  • project budget: NZ$200,000 to $250,000 (excludes consultant’s charges / bureaucracy costs). I received a gut-estimate from an experienced builder on the earlier (long) design: $300k for 7 modules, no pool, simpler entry. Not too bad – kind of where I was expecting.
  • cost-control strategy: the design is extremely modular (it effectively allows us a “shopping-list” of choices): we leave off modules to meet the budget.
    ??we’re really keen on the pool! (imagine how the water would reflect off the underside of the main ceiling!)…??     The new design(s) takes a different approach to modularity – more repetition, fewer components, but it is a take all-or-nothing approach. I’m still happy with the project budget, but we’ll need to see what happens to the local building industry in the next year or so…
  • contract type: negotiable, but a Managed Labour Contract is preferred
  • project start: a.s.a.w.c. : as soon as we can : how about we move in before winter starts to bite? +Delayed. Read all about it

shell
  • approach: all plywood modular construction, designed to be carried up in 100 kg-or-so bits, and/or as larger sub-assemblies dropped in via chopper/crane
  • integration: final design detailing is “on hold” as we’re keen to ensure that assembly and construction approaches are developed in conjunction with the builder
  • quality: our methodology is “raw, honest materials neatly and efficiently put together“… or, in architect’s-wank, we’re trying to render the “architectonic rationale symbolic”. Haah!
  • finishes: the odds are materials will be of a very limited palette, whether exterior or interior. We list them here (roughly ordered by their ubiquity):
    • plywood (either 12mm or 25mm thickness, DD base structural grade), either LOSP (looks untreated) or CCA (green-grey in colour) treated. All nail/screw/staples exposed, joiner’s pencil set-out markings left as is, all outer-veneer knot-holes left as is…
    • sheet metal for the roof and kitchen bits. Unpainted metal – we want it to get a patina
    • glass double-glazed low-e where possible
    • corrugated fibreglass sheet we kind of like its yellowing-with-age…
    • lightweight sail-cloth for curtains and upper level ducting
    • industrial felt for carpet panel inserts, tatami mat style
    • road-traffic-pavement-quality anti-slip yellow plastic-stud stick-ons for external deck areas
    • industrial yellow anti-slip coatings for external treads.
      Woof.