It may have taken a little while but, several homes later, the owners of this countryside property south of Auckland have reached the peak of form meets function.
Each decade of their marriage, Joanne and Stephen Fredricson have shifted a tad further from the Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland centre. At first there was the state house do-up in Onehunga. Next a slice of suburbia in Botany where their three children (a daughter and twin boys) finished their schooling. And then, most recently, a fresh perspective — building their grand design on a semi-rural property: 1.5 hectares of carved-up farmland. Safe to say the move to a place where there is some argument about the actual area name (is it Paerata, Pukekohe East or Karaka?) wasn’t top of the agenda for Jo. “But we wanted more space and no longer needed to be close to town for the kids,” she explains. Visiting the elevated site at sunrise and at sunset turned her reluctance around. “We had the romantic idea that we might even get some cows or sheep,” she laughs.
Pastoral beasties were a long way off just yet though. While the pair had been hands-on with their other properties (taking advice from Steve’s late dad, formerly a builder), those were both small, simple schemes. This big, blank canvas was exciting but daunting — a different ball game altogether. The ball soon got rolling when they met Clint Lockwood of Create + Construct. He introduced them to designer Jenny Walter — a country gal herself — who told them about landscape designer Zoé Carafice. The trio gave the Fredricsons the confidence to go boldly into the paddocks, weaving together the manmade and organic from day dot.
To the owners, it was important to pay respect to the land rather than effect a strident occupation. Jenny designed a cluster of linked ‘farm buildings’ positioned to follow the sun, their forms as important as the spaces in between. “It was post-Covid and so the idea of sanctuary and calmness, that this house could be your everything, was foremost in our minds,” she explains. A plant-scape that connects all four elements of the quad-pavilion design makes the structures kinder to the rolling typography. Areas are dedicated to native restoration, there’s a ‘wind garden’ on the western banks where carex and miscanthus grasses dance, and in the arrival court groundcovers wander up the stairs leading to the front door.
Built of European Porotherm blocks, the house is an immoveable object in this highwind zone. “We saw the same clay blocks used in homes in Italy and Spain when we visited,” remembers Jo. “But there, they left them bare.” Here the blocks are plastered and painted a quiet shade of off-white. “They’re thermally great — and extremely solid,” says Steve. “It feels very strong and permanent.”
There is visual strength, too, in the crisp gables, symmetry in their proportion. The drag-coat plaster is counterpointed with vertical and horizontal cedar elements and dark-bronze metal joinery. Deep-set windows facing the arrival court lend a European flavour — but the openness of curtain-wall glazing poolside puts that idea to bed. “We love to look out over the paddocks to the valley, to see the weather coming in or watch the steam spire from the Glenbrook Steel Mill,” says Steve. Although it might be tempting to gaze beyond the threshold all day, beneath the triangulated rooflines, a series of spaces that were on the couple’s wish-list make everyday living easy. “We used curved walls in the entry,” explains Jenny. “There was an intention to soften the hard edges of the form, to blend the rectilinear and organic.”
In the communal pavilion, a sunken lounge occupies the south-west corner. On winter nights the couple settle in front of the fireplace on built-in bench seating. Relaxing with a glass or two of red wine, they listen as the vinyl spins with the voice of Sade, as velvety as the upholstery. Jo and Steve worked with designer Jessica Valintine on the kitchen — a sleek, contemporary space that, they say, will also have a sense of timelessness. “We originally thought of a light oak kitchen, but to me the dark oak is beautiful and will age just nicely,” says Jo.
Taj Mahal quartzite on the benchtops complements Chambolle stone floors in this area and its honed finish won’t show marks as readily. That’s important even though the ‘kids’ are now grown. The couple’s sons (aged 22) still live at home and are drawn to the kitchen towards the aroma of Jo’s ever-new offerings, as taste testers in residence. “I love to cook,” she says. “I just open up a page and go.” Reeded-glass doors that separate off the entrance key into the retro/contemporary theme and light plays across Venetianplastered walls.
Post family gatherings, the couple like to retreat to a separate, private main-bedroom wing, where an upholstered bedhead is set into oak panelling in a wall that curves beautifully around to the wardrobe. “We actually went into the factory and watched them crafting that curve,” says Steve. The outlook to the pool and garden is calming — although Luna the cavoodle finds it a frustrating exercise in rabbit watching.
Bucking the trend to locate the pool away from the home on this large property, Jo and Steve put it right where it would become a water feature at night. A wild garden grows up to the stone coping, making the pool feel pond-like. “After a few hours working in the garden, I love to dive right in,” says Jo, who never imagined herself a gardener until she moved here. She may have thought of becoming more serious about her art and there’s a studio where she “dabbles mainly in abstract acrylic” but not this hands-in-thedirt obsession. “It’s a lot of learning but I’m really loving it. I’m growing dahlias, trading seeds with Mum and finding out about all the new varieties.”
For Steve, the classic pastimes are still the best: messing about with cars and motorcycles in his over-sized shed with his boys, before throwing a few Pokeno snarlers on the barbie. “It certainly took a long time to get here,” recalls Steve of the project, mentioning cyclones, floods and budgetary blow-outs. “But I guess that’s pretty normal.” When tūī, kereru, hawks and kingfisher visit, along with swallows who are intent on building their nests in the outdoor-room canopy, the effort and expense feel justified.
Words Claire McCall
Photography Simon Wilson
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