Set on the edge of the sparkling Waitematā Harbour in Auckland, this family home celebrates the experience from ‘land to sea’. A journey through private, landscaped courtyards and intimate, sun-filled rooms opens to soaring living spaces and expansive water views. Raw concrete, warm cedar and luxurious finishes create a timeless architecture, beautifully attuned to its inhabitants and natural surroundings.

A study in the sculptural qualities of concrete, this home finds the optimal balance between openness and protection on the harbour’s edge. Tall concrete fins with deep reveals provide sheltered and private spaces, while large windows amplify the beauty and drama of a spectacular coastal setting. Through careful design and detail, this concrete home provides a feeling of strength and permanence, while fitting discreetly into its surroundings.

Surrounded by a majestic alpine landscape, the design brief for this retreat was to ‘let the land speak’. The living pavilion responds to the ridgelines and the sky, while a private suite is partly buried in the hillside to celebrate the spectacular natural environment. Light wing roofs contrast with expressive in-situ concrete, cast like timeless rock strata, to evoke a poetic architecture of place.

A rural landscape and a collection of contemporary New Zealand art led to a refined gallery-style home. The interior is grounded by textured stone walls that extend outside to form the edge of graceful verandas. Broad, floating roofs provide sheltered spaces and frame the beautifully manicured grounds. Sculpture draws the eye to distant views, celebrating the full extent and scale of the property.

This high-end, eight unit residential development in central Auckland is a study in the contrasting requirements of household privacy and contextual connection. Both are concentrated in their formal expression due to the unusual urban context of a site pressed between a market garden to the north and a with a through street to the south. This strong duality forced the need for a robust, road-facing design while the northern aspect required an open connection outward, to community tended gardens and the tree-lined water-course beyond.

A refined renovation of a century old villa and the contrasting addition of a concrete and steel cube adds to the diverse fabric of inner city Auckland. The textured precast panels and black angle blades allow the new annex to bridge a space between the high brick form adjacent and the delicate detail of the old weatherboard ‘home’. This discreet urban arrival sits squarely in the gap, humble in scale but firm in stance, with a curious sense of belonging (delete comma) to both its’ site and streetscape beyond.

A light-filled extension has enabled this family to maximise their access and enjoyment of a large and private back yard. The elegant pavilion affords modern, open-plan living, while respecting the existing timber architecture. Volcanic rock excavated from the site is drawn inside to feature in a material palette of in-situ concrete, stone, and rich, warm timbers.

This Contemporary Barn House was designed to reference the character of the long-held family farm while claiming a unique take on future rural vernacular. The in-situ cast gable achieves both ideals in a singular grounded statement with a corrugated relief nodding to history while the balanced form projects a confidence for life ahead. Interiors are pared back yet textural, connecting the quiet pastoral life with a seasoned bush outlook.

We have brought a subtle and elegant modernist sensibility to this waterfront villa, preserving and celebrating its Victorian features, while carefully introducing exquisite new materials and details. Black and white marbles, smoked timber floors and contemporary fittings bring a whole new level of luxury to the home. Modern planning caters to the clients’ lifestyle and elevates their enjoyment of the beautiful harbour setting.

During the renovation of a classic bungalow, our clients asked us to reimagine the street elevation and take their home beyond the ordinary. The resulting louvre façade is a simple, contemporary response referencing the symmetry of traditional timber architecture. The internal revisions formalised this ceremonial planning right through the home and out into a beautifully landscaped garden. A vaulted living zone with a fireplace at each end reinforces the balanced aesthetic.

The Canterbury plains were our starting point for this refined family home. Sculptural schist walls shape and contain space, reaching out into the landscape as a vertical counterpoint to a perfectly level site. While embracing its rural outlook, much-needed shelter was created in the form of a central swimming pool and courtyard. Floodlit by skylights, this central social space provides constant delight with its dancing water reflections.

This nineteenth-century cottage has been transformed into a tranquil urban sanctuary with a sophisticated palette of steel, stone, concrete and cedar. The contemporary addition achieves privacy through careful planting and screening, and openness by detailing the interior and exterior spaces as one. Floor, ceiling and wall surfaces all extend outside, so the new living room overlaps and blends with its private landscaped courtyard.

DAVID PONTING registered architect
MATTHEW FITZGERALD registered architect
PHILIP BOTTING registered architect
FRANCES YOUNG registered architect
JASON van HUENEN b.arch
KATIE SKUDDER-BROLLY m.arch (prof)
RIGO GONZALEZ b.arch
LUKE ANDREWS b.arch (hons)
SAMANTHA LEWIS m.arch (prof)
BAADSHAH SINGH m.arch (prof)
JADE DORMER ndat
GEMMA MUIR m.arch (prof)
ARABELLA McKECHNIE m.arch
JACQUELINE CURREEN b.arch
ANITA THOMAS m.arch
JACQUELINE CURREEN b.arch
ATLANTA MILES bcs
GAIL BATTEN

The concept for this artist’s residence evolved from a strong desire for privacy while maximising sunlight and connection with the garden. Our solution centres on a peaceful courtyard screened by a textured concrete wall. The U-shaped plan contains living spaces and gallery-like corridors filled with art. Wrapped in metal, level one bedrooms form a sculptural counterpoint to the linear concrete wall below.

This highland plateau house is a climate driven solution, a response to the raw windswept terrain. The magnificent yet formidable context required a solution that embraced the dramatic landscape while anchoring within the elements. Essential shelter is defined through humble, vernacular form, a courtyard framing distant views and the bracken cedar tones in the rugged surrounding slopes.

Focused on creating timeless modern designs, we continually look to expand and evolve our practice so that each project is unique to its site and to every client. Enjoy a preview of some of the new projects we are working on from a diverse range of locations around New Zealand.

Ponting Fitzgerald Architects has been creating bespoke, client-focused architecture since 2001. These images provide an overview of some of our early projects and express the timeless, contemporary approach we take when designing new homes and sensitive renovations

Exceptional homes are the sum of many parts, all thoroughly considered and carefully composed. At Ponting Fitzgerald we regard detail refinement as pivotal to the success of our work, each moment a concise solution revealing our delight in the little things that make the difference.