“What a selfish house!” was the architect’s response when Martin Lee first mooted his idea for
a 409m² one-bedroom home.

Today, Martin and his wife Peggy are living in the unusual and stunning home that they devised together, incorporating both their ideas, and nods to their extensive travels.

After purchasing a 13-hectare property on the outskirts of Cambridge, Rural and Lifestyle real estate agent, and ex-builder, Martin knew that the future subdivision potential of the site demanded something that would set a benchmark for any future development.

“It wasn’t so much a selfish house, but more as retirement beckons, we didn’t want to live in a house with lots of rooms we didn’t often use,” says Peggy.

After experimenting with initial designs, Joe Cattle from Fowler Homes Waikato was engaged as the project’s builder, and he recommended using The Independent Design Co. to complete the final design.
Much of the square metreage is swallowed up by a quadruple garage, and a one-bedroom apartment above it. Although spacious, the actual house consists of vast open plan living, a media room, a master suite, main bathroom, and a large office, which can double as a second bedroom when the grandchildren stay.

It was designed to futureproof their retirement, so that both or a surviving partner could remain there with a carer living in the self-contained apartment. The phrase “resort-style living, every day” is mentioned frequently.

“We built the garaging and apartment first, moved in and were onsite for the rest of the build,” says Martin.

The design incorporates a concept that the couple first saw during their two-and-a-half years living in the south of France. The prehistoric Caves of Niaux have an imposing corten steel clad entranceway. Corten is a steel alloy with a high copper content, developed to eliminate the need for painting, and form a stable rust-like appearance after several years’ exposure to weather.

The traditional wood framed house is partly clad in painted stria board, and partly in three-millimetre-thick sheets of corten steel.

“This was by far the most challenging part of the build, as none of us had ever used the material before,” says Joe Cattle.

The pre-weathered sheets were fabricated off-site and the design team had to invent a way to apply them to the home to comply with building code regulations. A friend, Karl Messenger, worked out how to achieve the precise negative detailing look that complemented the stria boards, and is applauded for his accuracy and attention.

Comfortable living for two
While from outside the building deliberately looks like four interlinked pavilions, with different roof gradients and styles, inside seamlessly flows from room to room.

The main living area has a 5.5m apex, with specially sourced tongue and groove effect ply on the raked ceiling, and exposed scissor trusses, with corten gusset joints. It was no mean feat to back light them with hidden LED lighting. A light white colour scheme and minimalist natural-feel furnishings, works perfectly in this “Viking hall” style space.

Martin’s design skills are showcased by the stunning cantilevered hearth stone and double-sided wood-burning fire, with sheets of corten steel behind, towering up to the roof apex. An incredibly heavy barn door, with corten steel on one side and white painted wood on the other, closes off the open plan living area.

“The patina on the corten inside is very different to the outside, as the rusting is much slower,” says Martin.

Peggy is credited with deciding on the majority of the colour schemes, and pulling together the final minimalist, modern but completely liveable look.

The galley style kitchen has clean lines, Caesarstone benchtops, a long island with a waterfall end, and no sink or appliances in the island. It is minimalist with handle-free push open/close cabinet doors, and an abundance of soft close drawers.

An initial cabinetry colour scheme of a black and white mix had been changed to all white.

“But when it arrived and was being unpacked, there seemed to be a lot of black in there, and we decided to go with what had arrived,” says Peggy. The white provides the clean fresh look, and the black used on the top cabinets creates a visual barrier, defining the kitchen as a specific area of the large open plan living space.

Hidden behind the main kitchen is the scullery. This is a small kitchen in itself, and allows for the working end of the kitchen to be out of sight.

Joe the builder comments on the lighting budget, a cost they all acknowledge went rather high, but there are no regrets.

"By the time you take in the extensive lighting in the house, the pool and rill lighting, and feature lighting in the external cladding and the maple trees up the drive, it was one of the largest costs for the build,” says Joe.

Adding features seen on their travels
To accommodate Martin’s six-foot-four-inch stature, the doors and windows are a minimum of 2.25m high, and are double-glazed, UV laminated, Low E windows.

“We deliberately blurred the lines between inside and outside, using a glazed hallway, stacking sliders, and a large corner slider to really open the house up to the outdoor living areas,” says Martin.

The striking extra width and height, front door, in bright yellow glass, opens into a hallway and looks directly through a picture window to a rill pond and the rural view beyond.

“The Monaro yellow was the colour of the Mustang we hired to drive around the States, and the idea for the rill pond came from Bordeaux,” says Martin.

The master suite has a large bathroom as part of the room.

“We were looking at using a glass wall between the two, having seen something similar on a trip to Portugal, but decided to leave it open,” says Martin.

Both the bathrooms have tiled floors and ceilings with 1200mm x 600mm Italian tiles that mimic rusting steel sheets. The effect is very eye-catching, and “people either love it or hate it, but they always comment”.

Outdoor living
A covered portico is accessible on three sides from the house and offers all-year-round and all-weather outdoor living options. A louvred roof controls sunlight, and the outside of the double-sided fire, a multi-purpose fire/barbecue/pizza oven and an electric heater, warm up chillier days.

Combine the extensive cut concrete patio area, pool house and swimming pool, with the seamless indoor/outdoor flow, and the desired “resort style living every day” certainly becomes a reality.

Martin is in the process of making corten steel sculptures for the grounds, and Peggy has overseen planting that is sympathetic with the house cladding. Maple trees lining the drive are a nod to her Canadian roots.

The 13 hectares has been completely de-fenced internally and planted with lucerne, a crop that requires regular cutting by a contractor, but provides an expanse of green all-year-round.
Joe from Fowler Homes reflects on this challenging and interesting build.

“The finer points of the design changed several times as the build progressed, but the result is well beyond our expectation. “Martin and Peggy were heavily involved in the design, and not afraid to adjust budgets and timeframes if they wanted to make changes. The final house is what they wanted, and as the owner of Fowler Homes Waikato, it was my job to deliver what they wanted.”