The Concept: No.8 Wire is a paper architecture exploratory analysis of what constitutes the form and idea of a home relative to the landscape of Central Otago NZ. Three types of spatial devices create and inform the architecture, that of solid, transparency and void. The two gabled volumes sit mirrored, off-set and self referential, bared to all, lost within the expanse of the landscape. The aesthetic is a bold foray of form placed in conversant to its surroundings. Its use is a signifier of the NZ concept of resourcefulness and creativity; best described as a kiwi’s ingenuity and adaptability.
The upper most volume is transparent, containing living dining and kitchen; publically expressed and opened to the surroundings. The next volume is solid, containing bedding and ablutions; privatised to the individuals of the house. Externalised decks are formed with the shift of the volumes longitudinally with a main deck formed with cantilevered and wire supported structure for use from the living spaces. The assembly is placed on repeating pilasters, separating the whole from the ground plain also serving to extradite the building from its earthly foundation. The overall combination of these spaces is then wrapped in No.8 wire, forming a glistening web of constant threads combining all as one whole. The project is placed to a boundary edge of an ebbing and flowing golden field of wheat, with the direct site below the raised building lowered to the same height as the boundary road, cutting into the body of the landscape. To sustain this intrusion (retaining the land) rough cast concrete sidings, cast on-site are placed. These funnel the insertion and declare the house to the landscape. The end of the funnelling allows for the site to flow into the lowered land, now tamed as lawn.
The No.8 Wire House may stand alone, but is informed by many.
“Not I, some child, born in a marvellous year, Will learn the trick of standing upright here”. Curnow, Allan: The Skeleton of the Great Moa, in the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, circa 1943.
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