Space Saving Technology
2020-07-01
An exciting new project at LSA has needed some new technology to make the vehicle access and parking really work! A new holiday home proposed for a site in Little Huia has fantastic harbour and valley views, but with a 1 in 3-4 gradient for the build area, getting cars on site was a tricky design problem.
The large family with adult children wanted good vehicle access to the house. Driveway access was possible but to get a few cars with turning on site was going to mean a lot of retaining, and the native vegetation would be significantly affected. The solution found was the car turntable, which can be manually operated or with a remote like your garage door. It’s the perfect solution for our increasingly tight sites whether it be like this one, or in urban areas where council requires you to reverse manoeuvre to drive forwards onto the street.
Cars don’t warrant the land and floor area cost that we once used to give them. However we still need some security for our wheels, and the convenience of being able to park by the house rather than on the street can’t be overrated. However, you certainly don’t want to compromise on the architecture to get your car parking on site. A typical turntable is shown below, and it’s fair to say they aren’t cheap, but land isn’t either, and it certainly frees up options for the build!
The design is split level and follows the steep site contour, with careful consideration of significant trees so the best views could be captured. The steep site means in the long term maintenance has to be minimised so that will guide many material selections. It’s a work in progress…