Studio House / William Samuels Architects

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Though small, the Studio House attempts to tackle some big ideas. As an exploration of an affordable path to home ownership, a more sustainable approach to building, and a testament to the liveability of smaller spaces, the house serves as a model for an alternate mode of living and as a radical departure in how we think about ‘home.’To create a greater sense of volume within the narrow modules they are joined via an open ‘pinwheel’ plan, where each functional space within the home connects to a larger conjoined central area, resulting in a series of spaces with shared volumes. If required, additional modules can be added at a later point to add bedrooms, workspaces, or other areas. The house in its present form is by no means the finished entity, rather it is a manifestation of the needs of this moment in time and is likely to grow and evolve as those needs change.Constructed by the owners on a meager $ 150,000 NZD budget, the Studio House is built upon leasehold land, thereby eliminating the upfront costs associated with purchasing a section. Consequently, the house needed to be relocatable, allowing it to be easily moved upon completion of the lease, which informed the physical constraints of the house. We developed a series of interconnected modules that can be removed from their foundations and individually relocated, each within the maximum dimensions of a trailer.Text description provided by the architects.The Studio House is a compact single-bedroom home and is an exploration of living small, affordably, and sustainably. At only 42m2 the house is compact, similar in nature to a studio apartment. But although small it has been designed to be fit for purpose, a comfortable home for a couple that allows for a high degree of liveability without the need for compromise.The primary formal gesture is the creation of high barrel-vaulted ceilings within each module. Large format curved windows at the ends of each barrel bring in light and provide an outlook towards tree canopies whilst maintaining a sense of privacy from the neighbors. The window frames are hidden within the wall cavity, creating the appearance of a void, or opening at the end of each vault. A loft above the bathroom provides a secondary living space within the heart of a barrel vault, a cozy reading room with a stunning outlook. Natural materials have been selected wherever possible, and no paint has been used in this project.