Redwood Downs Residence – Te Uku / Raglan

This house is located in Te Uku, a small township just down the road from Raglan on your way to Hamilton. The design is following the core principles of energy efficient and sustainable architecture. The Building is very well insulated, airtight and with it’s compact shape contains a combined 300 m² gross floor area on only 180 m² footprint. An open void above the family area supports communication and connects the 2.5 levels. Heat from the central fireplace on the ground floor naturally reaches the bedrooms on the second and third floor without the need of a costly heating system. 

Most building materials used on this project are either recyclable or are recycled. All visible timber on the interior and exterior is free of chemicals and only oiled to seal and preserve it’s natural beauty. There are natural timber surfaces everywhere in and around this building, most of which were sourced from it’s own site. Somebody with great vision and knowledge 60-70 years ago decided to plant a large number of Redwood, Japanese Cedar and a rare (to NZ) Gum species, each one beautiful and with fantastic building properties. How lucky we thought…, but a fair amount of planning and managing was required to turn trees into a finished home! All efforts however were well worth it and the result is a very comfortable, warm, healthy and energy efficient home for our family to enjoy.