GREY LYNN VILLA | ADNZ Resene Residential Design Award Winner 2019

After a decade in New York, returning to Auckland meant returning to a different set of expectations. The villa in Grey Lynn ticked every box on the outside — parkside, generous proportions, high ceilings, character to spare. Inside, it needed a complete rethink.

What it lacked was the everyday — a kitchen worth cooking in, storage, natural light, and the kind of open, connected living spaces the home had always had the potential to offer.

Macfie Architecture's response was a contemporary rear addition that works with the villa's existing form rather than competing with it. Sloping ceilings and dual skylights draw natural light deep into the plan, reaching as far as the central hallway and bedrooms that had long been starved of it.

Large stacking doors with gable-end glazing dissolve the boundary between inside and out, opening to a balcony that overlooks a separately designed garden studio — built as an Airbnb rental and quietly earning its keep.

Inside, the renovation is comprehensive without being showy. Two new en-suites, a redesigned main bathroom, a scullery, new roofing and insulation, and timber flooring throughout — each addition integrated with the original villa's detailing rather than layered over it.

The result is a home that has found its best version of itself. Parkside, light-filled, and designed for the long term.

Project Scope - concept design, developed design, resource consent, building consent and on-site monitoring.

Build by Progress Builders

Photography by Tori Hayley