Offset Villa

offset
adjective
1.   counteract (something) by having an equal and opposite force or effect.
2.   place out of line.

This house was in a state of disrepair when our clients found it.  While occupying an elevated site with views of the green belt and long views to Lyall Bay accretions of unsympathetic alterations had left it disconnected from its outdoor space with equally poor internal arrangement.  It was also cold and damp with minimal insulation.

The spaces to the street side were grand – the proportions of a beautiful original villa.  However the alterations were smaller scale, with circuitous circulation and dislocated the house from the rear garden.  The brief was to provide a volume for living in – family, food and relaxation were to happen in the volume.  As the house was for a young family it needed to accommodate them as they grow – the teenage years and beyond, while providing space for offshore family to come and stay for long periods.

The alteration offset the strength of the original villa frontage to provide balance – the alteration needed an equally strong form and compelling volume.  

The gable being placed out of line admits light in an extension of the original house geometry – it is a symbiotic relationship of parts.

Photography by André Vroon