Definitions: "MAI" - to bring towards me "MAI" - clothing "MAI-MAI" - a Haka of welcoming "MAI MAI" - a make-shift hide / shelter used by duck hunters
The programme for this house seeks to create a sense of belonging for a couple through the construction of a sense of place common to both Hunter and Bird. Its concept explores the reconciliation of two ideas as relating to birds; a nest and a hide. The hide is camouflaged by offering an ornately formed screen. In Maori tradition, this screen can be deciphered to reveal the concept of the home and a reference to its occupants. By night, this mode of describing the occupancy is inflected upon the facade, designed with the ability to have reference imagery and imagery of the interior projected onto it. The house sits on a hillside opening out to the east on a small urban lot. Its living area forms a snug raised above the main floor area, which is referred to by the female occupant as the 'perch', and the male occupant as a 'vantage'.
Below is a protected place with two bedrooms and a cinema room. Panels of the front facade open to allow entry into the house and garage (a vertical car stacker system is used to conserve space.) There are pockets of open space in the house including a western courtyard concealed behind the facade. The hide's reconciliation provides the home's two occupants with a single place to 'be'.
A double honour for New Zealand architect
29 Jul 2008
New Zealand architects Patterson Associates has been included as a double finalist in the World Architecture Festival, one of the world’s most prestigious architectural awards, being held in Barcelona this October. The announcement from Barcelona was made today.
Auckland-based Patterson Associates has been nominated for two separate buildings, one located in Auckland and one Queenstown. Both projects draw heavily on New Zealand cultural traditions.
The World Architecture Festival (WAF) has named Pattersons as finalists in both the Private Home and Sports Building categories, for their ‘Mai Mai’ house in Auckland, and the Michael Hill Clubhouse in Queenstown. This effectively makes ‘Mai Mai ‘ one of the 16 best Private Homes built in the world during the last two years.
Founder Andrew Patterson says he couldn’t quite believe it when he got the news:
“An email came through from WAF saying we had been selected for the Michael Hill building in Queenstown, and our team was over the moon. It took a day for it to sink in, then just as we were calming down we got a second email, telling us Mai Mai had made it too. To have two buildings we have designed named on the world shortlist is both incredibly exciting and humbling.“
The Michael Hill Clubhouse featured extensively on international television coverage of the Michael Hill New Zealand Golf Open in 2006 and 2007, and is the recipient of New Zealand’s most prestigious design accolade, The New Zealand Institute of Architects Supreme Award 2008.
Patterson has a simple way of describing his architectural philosophy: “Form follows Whanau”.
“It means you design a building around the people who live, work and enjoy it, not around some particular style. For example, Mai Mai was designed as a home that could bring together the lifestyles of two very different people and create something beautiful from the union.”
Mai Mai takes inspiration from Pacific design, with a carved feather motif on the outside of the building, upon which striking images of the home and its surrounds are projected at night. The building takes its name from the shelters used by duck hunters, which like the home offer both camouflage and vantage point – in Mai Mai’s case a beautiful view of the Auckland cityscape.
The Michael Hill Clubhouse is built into the earth on the Michael Hill New Zealand Open Course in the Wakatipu Basin. Ringed by mountain ranges, the design recalls early New Zealand pas and hillside architecture.
Patterson will present both projects in person at the World Architecture Festival before a panel of judges, among whom are some of the most celebrated architects in the world. After announcing category winners, they will present an overall award for best building, ‘The Prix d’ Barcelona’. In the Sport and Leisure shortlist the Michael Hill Clubhouse is one of nine finalists, up against the Beijing Olympics’ Water Cube swimming stadium, and London’s new Wembley Stadium.
“We’ll be the underdogs”, Patterson says wryly, “when you think about the size of these other commissions. We’re simply delighted to be there. By being selected for these finals we get to attract the interest of the world in what we’re doing here in New Zealand.‘’
