For the Love of Timber – Point Wells Gable House by Pac Studio

Set on a site adjacent to an estuarine tendril of the Omaha River, on New Zealand’s North Island, the house consists of three gabled volumes. Two separate wings, running north to south, are connected by a boardwalk running east to west, and sit alongside a gabled guest wing. This arrangement contributes a familiarity to the built form that is reminiscent of a group of outbuildings, while the boardwalk is a key organising device that creates a variety of outdoor spaces that respond to the changing position of the sun throughout the day.

As a result, the project inhabits a balance between the practical, the raw and the rural on the one hand, and the detailed, delicate and custom on the other. While the exterior gable form deliberately invites comparison to a traditional barn, and tonka posts, transom beams and truss frames joined by exposed galvanised bolts give the interior an agricultural tone, the space consciously recalls another typology – that of the soaring, vaulted cathedral. Lit from above by windows situated just below the gable’s peak, the interior is imbued with natural light and the warmth of New Zealand beech, mitred and spliced to form a seamless linear surface that lines the interiors.

Taking inspiration in vernacular forms, Point Wells Gable House’s emphasis on handcrafted detail is at once contemporary and timeless, speaking to both a contemporary appreciation for design finesse and to the craftsmanship and raw materiality of a bygone era.

Set on a site adjacent to an estuarine tendril of the Omaha River, on New Zealand’s North Island, the house consists of three gabled volumes.

Wells Gable House is a tribute not only to the beauty and possibilities of natural timber but to the craft of timber construction too.