Parau House
- Location:
Parau, Auckland
- Category:
Residential, Single Dwelling
- Date:
December, 2025
- Photographer:
- Awards:
2026 HOME 2026 Interior of the Year Awards (Residential & Kitchen) Finalist
A resort-like sanctuary, robust enough for real family life. That was the brief our clients brought to the full three-level renovation of their 1990s home overlooking the Manukau Harbour, West Auckland.
A 1990s West Auckland family home set on a rural property overlooking the Manukau Harbour. Good bones and a spectacular outlook, but the house lacked soul. Disconnected rooms, a dated kitchen, and a hard angularity that worked against the setting it sat in.
The clients wanted a home that felt unified, warm, and resort-like, without losing the robustness a busy family of four actually needs.
The concept was the Mediterranean Atelier: the layered, unhurried quality of southern European craft, resolved through a relaxed New Zealand lens. A considered curve language was introduced throughout, working in dialogue with the home's existing angularity. Arches soften thresholds and frame borrowed views between rooms. A hand-rendered plaster rangehood melts into the wall. A monolithic marble island anchors the kitchen. Bespoke oak handles formed by a local West Auckland craftsman.
Tactile, considered, and as practical as it is beautiful.
