Development company Winton believes a prime piece of land deserves the best of homes.
That’s why they have pulled out all stops since securing the right to build on Launch Bay, Hobsonville Pt.
As well as preserving four heritage houses — once the living quarters of air force officers — on the 4.2ha site, and building a mix of apartments and townhouses, they are also building 12 stand-alone houses around what was an oval-shaped parade ground when Hobsonville Pt was an air force base.
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The two-storey architecturally designed houses will look out to the harbour, and because they’re in such a prestigious spot, they needed to be top quality, says Winton’s general manager Oliver Leighs.
“To be able to develop this area, which we think is the prime site in all of Hobsonville Pt, we had to show the HLC (Hobsonville Land Company) board that we could come up with a premium product, and these houses really are special,” he said.
“We wanted to keep the oval and to create a neighbourhood of beautiful, high-quality homes around it.”
The exterior design of the houses, designed by Studio Pacific, were inspired by photos of tents pitched on the oval.
At around 240s qm, each one will have a double garage, four bedrooms and three bathrooms.
There are also two living areas, a kitchen with a butler’s pantry and a separate laundry. Good indoor/outdoor flow was crucial, and there’s seamless transition to a deck at the front that will be covered by a pergola with mechanical louvres.
When it came to the interiors, Winton went straight to their go-to designer Stewart Harris, of Macintosh Harris.
“We use Stewart on all of our developments,” says Oliver. “We really rate his work and we know we will get quality every time.”
Stewart says as well as using an exceptionally high level of fit-out, he wanted the houses to have a resort feel, and to acknowledge their location near the water.
“I’ve attempted to keep the whole interior very natural, with earthy colours and textures. It allows for a layering of finishes against a relaxed background of neutral colours.”
Beautiful wall coverings and feature paint colours will showcase artworks, adds Stewart, and he’s chosen timber flooring for the entry, living, dining and kitchen areas.
Stewart’s work is showcased in a showhome on site. Four of the houses are under construction and people buying those yet to be built will have the opportunity to customise them.
Stuart Dun, landscape architect and senior associate at Studio Pacific, says the brief was about quality and paying tribute to the location.
“We wanted to celebrate being close to the coastal edge, which we’ve done with a selection of native planting,” he says, adding that shell chips in the aggregate concrete used on site was another subtle way of referencing the waterside location.
Find out more about Oval Houses, Hudson Bay Road, Launch Bay, Hobsonville Point