Nuli’s Place

2026

Nuli’s Place converts an existing street-side sleepout above a single garage into a standalone home. Through a carefully considered small addition and renovations, it investigates and reshapes the experience of living on a suburban hillside site in Christchurch.

The project introduces a new form and a connecting wing that links with the old and establishes a direct connection to the street. The entry steps rise directly from the footpath, doubling as public seating for the adjacent bus stop and creating an unusually open threshold between the home and its neighbourhood.

From inside, a bay window frames close, engaging views to the footpath and the park opposite, encouraging a sense of connection between private spaces and the public realm.

At just 65m², the new home explores how compact architecture can support autonomy, ageing in place, and a richer relationship with the surrounding community — testing how modest, finely scaled buildings can contribute positively to Christchurch’s changing residential fabric.

The new form nestles into the steeply sloping site and existing plantings with a deliberately angled roof and walls. It is carefully positioned and shaped to preserve an existing kōwhai tree and the path leading up to the main house.

The addition is compact in plan, being only about 16m2, but steps vertically through three levels — basement, “ground floor,” and mezzanine — following the slope from street to hillside - at its lowest point it is about 1.5m tall, and at its tallest, about 7m. Upper levels take advantage of the roof’s geometry with a bed platform mezzanine with carefully placed openings to capture light and frame views, and create privacy. The middle level remains tucked into the slope, facing out and engaging with the street. The lowest level provide the practicality of basement space and services.

From the upper part of the site, where the main house sits at the rear, the new dwelling is read quite differently. Seen from the garden path, it appears as a smaller, almost perched structure nestled among vegetation — more like a bird house tucked into the hillside than the striking form experienced from the street. This uphill perspective, and nestling into the trees, softens the architecture, creating a gentle visual relationship between the two homes and reinforcing the layered, multi-level character of the site.

Photography: Sarah Rowlands