Matuku Moana
2024 Here Magazine Awards - Shortlist (New House)
2025 Here Magazine - Issue #29
2025 Interior Awards Finalist - Residential Category
2025 Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architect’s Local Award (Waikato & Bay of Plenty) - Resene Colour Award
Photographer—David Straight
Matuku moana is our own home and we are really proud of it.
We purchased the section in 2019 off our new neighbours. They had subdivided the Lot from their large ‘old world’ Pāpāmoa property. A property where they had hand raised a Motuku moana in their wood shed after it blew out of a Macrocarpa tree in a storm. The parents would fly down daily and feed their chick in the woodshed. We are fortunate to still see the birds as they fly back and forth from their nests. It feels special in the urban sprawl of Pāpāmoa.
Outside the house is bold. It’s simplistic with fine detail.
Inside the house has two feels.
Downstairs is light and playful. Upstairs is moody and textured.
We love our house.
“Bold, yet meticulously detailed.”
— Here magazine
A small house on a subdivided lot, named after the white-faced herons that nest here. Simple in form with fine detail, the house has two distinctive feelings. Downstairs is light and playful; upstairs is moody and textured. Efficient planning makes the most of the small footprint, raising questions about how much room a small family really needs.
— Jury Citation - Here Awards 2024
“Propped off the ground and subtly overhanging its concrete foundation, it sits as an object on the land, strong and content.”
— Here magazine
“Matuku Moana is an urban haven on a busy road for the architect and his young family. The home’s thoughtful placement on site allows a sun filled sunken courtyard to feel private, connected to the trees, and is integral to the home’s success.
Its deceptively simple form is highly detailed and well considered on a cost conscious budget. Downstairs is open and spacious and connected to the sun drenched courtyard and upstairs has a more cocooned and retreat-like atmosphere. This is all created by clever proportions, use of materials and a concise layout.
Matuku Moana has most successfully achieved a true compound-like oasis in suburbia.”
— Jury Citation - NZIA BoP/Waikato Local Awards (Housing)
The interior is soft, colourful and playful.
Art, second-hand finds and decades of collected treasures complete the picture.
— Here magazine
“It’s a cleaver colour scheme: colourful, but not poppy”
— Here magazine
“Matuku Moana embodies a playful and experimental approach to colour by the owners. The more subtle colours of the exterior open to an interior which has colour and character in spades.
The lower and upper levels have very different treatments, which evoke a different atmosphere in each of the spaces. Who know that a peach-toned kitchen fitout and walls could work so well with a vibrant, orange-shaded stone spashback? The overall effect of this open plan space is airy, creative and light-hearted.
Upstairs, the retreat feeling is further enhanced with rich warm-toned carpets set against the stained ply walls and ceiling.”
— Jury Citation - NZIA BoP/Waikato Resene Colour Award
“Spread over two levels, with public spaces downstairs and the sleeping quarters and office upstairs, the home has a clear split - a light, playful feel downstairs, with a moody, textured retreat above”
— Here magazine
“The calm and private retreat”
— Here magazine
