Architectural design is experiencing the seasons.
They are predicting a hot summer and with it comes full sun and heat. We use our south-facing villa veranda to get out of the sun and into a breeze which runs down the street.
It reminded me of a magic moment as an architectural student when I visited Jim Hackshaw’s own home. Jim was one of the architects in the celebrated Group Architects of the 1950s and beyond. He had designed a south-facing snug with wood fire and fully glazed south wall with views out to the garden. It was a big room with a high ceiling. All wrong to an architectural student being taught rooms face north. The room was cool in the summer and cosy in the winter but never enclosing.
Today the southside of your house is seen as the worst aspect of your house and we are encouraged by the building code to close it off for thermal reasons. But its shade can provide summer relief from the heat and lessen you chance of developing melanoma. The southern garden provides a difference aspect to your house and the garden itself will be different from your northern garden due to the shade-loving plants.
We all love the image of a romantic Tuscan lunch under the shade of an avenue of trees and your southern garden could provide that.
Opening a south-facing set of doors can also provide cross ventilation to cool the interior of your house. It doesn’t make any sense in an Auckland summer to close up your house and put the heat pump on to cool it. We love that indoor/outdoor thing.
paul@leuschkekahn.co.nz
021 894 895
leuschkekahn.co.nz
