Corner House

Front Entry
North Shore
New Zealand
2008

The nikau palm is a handsome native of New Zealand. It grows in coastal bush and is well deserving of the admiration it receives for its tall shapely outline in the landscape.

I live right around the corner from this house and often pass it. I asked its owners if I could use it as my easel in Photoshop for a design exercise. They were obliging. I had actually designed a couple of possibilities for this window area.

The first one was to give privacy and shade and extended down the face of the buildiing. This latest one is my preference and offers some privacy and shading, but mainly identifies the entry, echoing the verticality and starkness of the building in a welcoming and colourful way.

The palms are silhouettes of photographs I have taken. The colour is based on applied ceramic paint, fired onto toughened glass, making it permanent and UV stable. It would have some colour and translucency from the inside. The design would be digitally printed onto the glass.

It has evolved over quite a while and obviously was based on the outside of the house since it was a hypothetical exercise and I didn't want to intrude unnecessarily on the family. It therefore has no consideration of interior (other than my idea of privacy and shading) or the normal client input. This is an unusual way for me to work, but allowed me the freedom to experiment with a new idea and direction in this particular case.