Mark Frazerhurst Architects

Angle Grinder House

Angle Grinder House
© Simon Devitt

Angle Grinder House

Mark Frazerhurst Architect

STRUCTURE & ENVELOPE CONSTRUCTION
Anderson Concpts Construction

INTERIOR CONSTRUCTION & FINISHING WORKS
Mark Frazerhurst

LEAD ARCHITECT
Mark Frazerhurst

MANUFACTURERS
Cosentino, APL door/window joinery, Abodo, Dimond Roofing, Escea, JSC Cedar cladding, Plytech, Rosenfeld Kidson Cedar screening

PHOTOGRAPHS
Simon Devitt

AREA
185 m²

YEAR
2023

LOCATION
Auckland, New Zealand

CATEGORY
Houses

This one-bedroom house is located near the rim of a steeply sloping Auckland volcanic crater cone. Likely considered too hard to build on by most, we saw an opportunity for something great for the clients, my parents, who were looking to downsize when they purchased the empty section.

Angle Grinder House
© Simon Devitt
Angle Grinder House
© Simon Devitt

The initial brief for the home contained more ’wants’ than the modest target construction budget allowed, so we challenged any preconceived ideas in order to design a home specifically for their needs, likes, and idiosyncrasies of living. Every decision with regard to design and detail was scrutinized, cost, and re-evaluated, before committing to.

An extensive panoramic horizontal vista from the living space takes in the far side of the crater cone, as well as ‘green sea’ views of the park below.

The orientation of the home and established surrounding planting provide shelter from strong North-East and North-West onshore winds from the Hauraki Gulf. The home takes its form from an element constituting both roof and wall planes, which fold down the slope, linking each level.

Angle Grinder House
© Simon Devitt
Angle Grinder House
© Simon Devitt
Angle Grinder House
© Simon Devitt

A number of years ago, I’d seen a sculpture of a roll of corrugated iron twisting down a hillside and how the ad-hoc form created interesting spaces.

We worked with this cue and designed a textural black folding form that contains and encloses spaces both internally and externally.

Timber-clad volumes anchor the folding form and contain more intimate and inwardly focused areas. We set out to design, manage, and construct the home ourselves.

Angle Grinder House
© Simon Devitt
Angle Grinder House
© Simon Devitt
Angle Grinder House
© Simon Devitt

Design and finish quality was paramount, and the construction budget was relatively immovable, so we compromised on the only aspect we could - time.

My parents and family worked tirelessly on Fridays and Weekends, calling on friends when suitable and engaging builders and subcontractors where work was outside of our abilities over a period of nine years.

Angle Grinder House
© Simon Devitt
Angle Grinder House
© Simon Devitt

The house presents a continuous series of interesting moments within, where ideas have been implemented through sheer determination, passion, patience, and hard work by all involved.

Finishing materials were selected based on hand workability, adaptability, budget, handling ability, and material tactility. We approached the process and method of construction as if we could build something ourselves; we would hand fabricate parts of the building fabric on-site in smaller manageable parts (such as the cladding screens, inverted ceiling trusses, etc.) to eliminate any machine lifting.

Angle Grinder House
© Simon Devitt
Angle Grinder House
© Simon Devitt

We also custom-constructed many building components from scratch on-site ourselves (e.g., doors, stairs, etc.) to reduce the overall construction cost of usually off-site fabricated elements.

We made a number of cost-effective but labor-intensive modifications to relatively standard building materials, lifting the level of interest and innovation of finishes, such as routing patterned grooves in timber linings and notching holes in the subfloor cladding for subfloor ventilation.

Angle Grinder House
© Simon Devitt
Angle Grinder House
© Simon Devitt

The saying “good things take time” doesn’t come close to describing this completely immersive personal project, the time invested and lessons learned, or the family bond experienced in the process in the creation of this once-in-a-lifetime home.


Angle Grinder House
Elevation - East
Angle Grinder House
Elevation - West
Angle Grinder House
Elevation - North
Angle Grinder House
Elevation - South


Angle Grinder House
Plan - First floor
Angle Grinder House
Plan - Second floor
Angle Grinder House
Plan - Third floor
Angle Grinder House
Plan - Fourth floor
Angle Grinder House
Plan - Site

Mark Frazerhurst Architects
T +64 21 994858
Mark Frazerhurst Architects
Hayes Bldg Level 1/8 Teed Street, Newmarket, Auckland 1023, New Zealand