So you'd like look and feel of luxury and quality at your home, but you're worried your budget won't stretch that far? The Whittaker Cube designed by Dravitzki Brown Architects shows us by thinking smaller you can still have a functional home, but you stretch your budget for the finer things...
At two levels of 8 x 8 metres, The Whittaker Cube really is a cube. And I'm no mathematician, but that makes it around 128 square metres. Actually, it's 142 square metres, because of a small area to the side of the cube. Regardless, for a three bedroom house, that's much smaller (roughly 2/3) than the average size of a new house in New Zealand.
So, if you had an average budget, but managed to design a comfortable house 2/3 the size of an average home, what would you spend your savings on? If you're Dravitzki Brown Architects, immaculate detailing and durable materials. The benefits of this approach (other than having less carpet to vacuum) is your house will require less maintenance and will age gracefully.
The Whittaker Cube is located in a small sea side town called Kakanui near Oamaru in New Zealand. Of course it was essential for the home to take in the sea views, but it was also important to feel private from the street and neighbouring properties. This led to the decision to flip the home, putting bedrooms, a bathroom and laundry on the ground floor and putting the living areas upstairs to take in the views while feeling protected from onlookers.
Cedar cladding is used on the exterior. It is detailed in a way that it acts only as a rain-screen, so it doesn't need to be water tight. It therefore can be detailed to conceal the flashing, giving it a more minimal, refined look and making it look more like a timber cube.
The interior uses American Oak throughout which gives it a warm glow, while also tying it to the cedar cladding externally. Upstairs the living areas feels spacious and are filled with light thanks to expansive windows taking in the views.
