Grand Designs: New Zealand on ABC – Matthew and Rosemarie Dunning have been holidaying and snatching weekends at Mangawhai, north of Auckland, ever since their children were little.
After selling their family home back in 2016, they bought a bare section amongst the sand dunes of Tern Point with the intention of building something more substantial to ultimately live in permanently.
They were pondering the question of what to build when their son, Nick, an architectural designer who had been living and working in Sweden and Denmark pitched them a concept – and won the job.
Drawing on his experience of being in Europe, Nick’s design has an intriguing concept for a coastal setting -featuring red brick with a Danish mid-century aesthetic.
The house will have a formidable, curved designer brick wall with an oversized front door leading into a glass pavilion housing the public living spaces – all of which will have majestic views out to the sea and sand dunes. While the master bedroom and ensuite will be in the body of the house, the guest bedroom wing will run perpendicular to the house and parallel to a lap pool, providing easy access for anyone wanting to take a quick salt-free dip.
However, with Covid threatening to hurl the building industry into turmoil, just how much onsite input will Matthew and Rosemarie be able to have on their long-anticipated design – or will they be forced to conduct the orchestra from afar?
Production credit: Hosted by Tom Webster. Based on the format “Grand Designs” devised by Talkback Thames, a FremantleMedia company.
Grand Designs: New Zealand on ABC and ABC iview – Thursday 7 March, 2024 at 8:30pm
More TV Central ABC content HERE
