Compact House Series

These two houses are the first in a series of compact 'apartment' houses designed by Tom Locke in Waimate North. 

Up north, Tom observed, once people buy a piece of land, they will often chuck up a quick shed or park a caravan on the site, before gradually building up around it.  

The first building the owners put on the site won’t be positioned to face the best view, but the following buildings, a long drop, a workshop, a sleep-out, slowly build towards one location the owners have identified that will frame the ultimate view.

These two Waimate houses use this observation to develop the sites. The houses represent that first placing of the ‘caravan’ on the site, the initial utilitarian building, a minimum requirement to enable the owner to function.

This initial building anchors an outdoor communal setting, a courtyard or garden, that future buildings can congregate around.

Tom proposes this fascination with the view parallels the culmination of the journey of life. One works and struggles through the phases of life, building slowly towards the view. When you get to that point and the activity finishes, you can finally sit back in front of that picture window, watch the change of seasons, contemplate, rest.

The Waimate houses are essentially ‘flash caravans’ with the wheels taken off, a simple and efficient form.

The exterior is inspired by woolsheds - such as the sliding barn door above, which is painted with a motif from Le Corbusier's nunnery at Ronchamp. The interior embodies the spatial economy of apartment living.

Kitchen & dining, the offset windows from within.

Headboard of concrete block and plywood with wardrobe behind. 

Clear corrugated panels over windows create a lantern effect at night.

In the second Waimate house, the 'flash caravan' prototype is modified to accommodate changes in site levels, orientation and materiality.

Clerestories in the bedroom, from the bed one can watch the moon travel from one opening to another.

The Waimate site strategy is a metaphor for a living process, a slow accretion of material and geometric forms, a time-based building process that parallels life's growth and struggle, towards a final framing of the horizon.

Sketches show site development, the shaded area is the 'caravan'. The strategy allows the client time to pause and consider what future building is necessary, these decisions can change when the client is inhabiting the site.

Houses are one bedroom, 90 sq m including garage.