This floating tiny-house style apartment was purposed to enable us to live and work in our warehouse in Helensville.
It was originally an open mezzanine used as a lunchroom, with three shower room cubicles, a vanity and a small kitchenette.
We stripped out all the unnecessary fittings, closed the space in and extended the floor area to create a booth-style seating area that hangs out over the warehouse.
The interior of the apartment feels like a canal-boat type space, with complete kitchen amenities, a shower bathroom and laundry and a fully insulated spacious master bedroom with exterior windows.
Entry is via internal warehouse stairs, which we built up to create under-stair storage. Finally we dropped a floating ceiling to separate the dwelling from the external warehouse roof and create insulation. On the ground level, we built in another WC with a spare bedroom.
This was another project that needed smart design and maximum efficiency on space.
Once the floor plans and construction were sorted, we clad the dwelling with reclaimed native NZ Rimu. This hearty strong wood is everywhere in Aotearoa - it has been the timber of choice for generations. We had a lot of it in our wood stores, salvaged and collected over the years, so we decided on negative slat detailing external design and it looks excellent.
Could you say I’m slightly obsessed with Rimu and negative slat detailing? Probably
Five years on and we are still living in our home-made tiny home. All is well.