Paradise Found

Gabriella Lewenz decided to move from the United States to a bare paddock on Waiheke Island on the strength of an email from her husband.

It was the culmination of a worldwide search for a better life for Gabriella, her husband Claude and their young daughter Micaela. “We were unsure where to go. All we knew was that we wanted to live another kind of life,” says Gabrielle.

It was also a matter of finding that classic life-work balance and a kinder place for the family to put down roots.

“What it essentially came down to was that we were looking for a simpler world,” says Claude. “I wanted to rediscover the sense of community that I had as a child. I wanted to feel part of that belonging again.”

 

The couple had scoured the world for several years before settling on New Zealand. The country was first suggested by a friend, backed up by some library research and sealed by a family visit. “It just hit with crystal clarity when we stepped off the plane in Auckland. This was the country we had been looking for,” Claude remembers.

It took several more years to make the transition to the South Pacific. But in 1997, without having seen Waiheke, Gabrielle trusted Claude to commit to a piece of land on the island in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf after he described it in an email.

Gabrielle had given Claude a vision of her dream location just as he was leaving for the plane. “There’s a place we love on the west coast of Ireland called Slea Head and I wanted a similar feel. I knew my ideal place would be near the sea, have a city close by and a village over the hill that served good coffee,” she says.

Claude found this paradise on a piece of land at Church Bay on Waiheke Island, thus ending the family’s search for space, peace and community life.

The concept of community is a cause Claude champions personally and professionally. His work focuses on encouraging societal well-being through architecture and the design of sustainable villages that encourage a sense of connectivity.

He is writing a book, To Build a Village, which outlines a vision of villages of five to ten thousand citizens that are based around sustainable planning.

The move to Waiheke has given the couple the opportunity to test theories of sustainable architecture.

They first had to erect a guest house to live in while the main house was being built. Its style was a sign of things to come, reflecting Claude and Gabriella’s interest in vernacular architecture and the influence of classic Mediterranean buildings.

Seated in the sheltered courtyard that doubles as their airy living room, Claude says that the house is “really Gabriella’s vision”. Born to American parents, Gabriella was brought up mainly in Greece and this influence is reflected in the Lewenz’s choice of natural materials – mud bricks, marble and wood – the soft curvature of the walls and the chalky limewashed interiors.

However, the overall style is eclectic, with design elements poached from many sources. The idea for the long beams in the kitchen, for instance, came from Gabriella’s mother’s Spanish-style house in Tucson, Arizona.

The thick walls and clay tiles were inspired by Roman ruins in the south of France.  “I looked at that ancient design and knew it would suit our house,” says Claude.

“It has sympathy with the landscape and at the same time is practical. Building the house around a traditional-style courtyard, for example, means we are protected from the wind. Good architecture is actually very straightforward.”

Claude took on the design and project management of the house although he has no formal training. He also hired people who weren’t always an obvious choice – a graphic designer laid the intricate mosaic floor tiles that spill from the inside of the house to the outside.

“I followed timeless designs, some long forgotten by builders and architects, where my degree in history proved more relevant for the challenge,” he says.

There are many idiosyncratic touches, not least the fact that to go from the kitchen wing to the bedrooms one must cross the courtyard, rain, hail or shine.

“This is about connecting with the architecture, with the elements. I really don’t mind even if it’s really pouring. We just grab an umbrella,” Claude says.

Perhaps the most beautiful space in the house is Gabriella’s studio, a magnificent light-filled room that extends along one side of the house.

The studio doubles as an exhibition space for Gabriella’s richly textured oil-based paintings, called Church Bay Studio Gallery. Here visitors can peruse her art while getting a glimpse of the artist at work.
Gabriella considers herself lucky to have Waiheke as a source of inspiration. “The earth, sea and sky are the primal elements that make up my work,” she says. “The island and its nature constantly contribute to my painting.”               

The Lewenz house is included in two charitable tours this month. Friends of Starship Hospital’s Christmas Cracker House Tour takes in some of Auckland and the Hauraki Gulf’s best homes, decorated for Christmas by florists and interior designers. The Waiheke Island tour is on 3 November and the city tour is on 10 November. Information: (09) 307 5400, www.starship.org.nz/events, email starshipevents@adhb.govt.nz. The Jassy Dean Garden Safari, in conjunction with Art Out There, takes in nineteen of Waiheke’s gardens and is on 11-12 November. Information: (09) 372 108, www.jassydeantrust.co.nz.