The Jervois Apartments in Auckland, designed by architecture studio Monk Mackenzie and developer Artifact, represent a new benchmark for considered, high-density residential design, where architectural vision and material quality converge. Central to this success is the collaboration with New Zealand luxury appliance brand Fisher & Paykel. Rather than treating appliances as utilitarian focal points, the designers employed a suite of minimal and integrated products to intentionally make them recede into the architecture. This commitment to discretion allowed the apartment’s defining elements—the panoramic harbor views, the tactile natural materials, and the ergonomic layout—to take precedence. The result is a series of eight residences where the kitchen functions flawlessly as the social heart of the home, its performance powered by seamless integration rather than visual dominance.
Form and View: Architecture as a Filter
Monk Mackenzie’s design for the Jervois Apartments in Herne Bay is characterized by a sophisticated response to its challenging yet privileged ridgeline site. The architecture is defined by two contrasting facades that mediate between street-side privacy and harbor-side exposure.
The street-facing, southern elevation features a distinctive, undulating screen made of perforated metal. This shutter-like system acts as a calibrated filter, giving residents privacy from the busy arterial route below while still allowing ample light and air to penetrate the private areas, such as the bedrooms, which are strategically placed behind the screen. This architectural device turns potential exposure into a controlled, sheltered environment, giving the building a sculptural, kinetic identity from the street.
In contrast, the northern side, where the social spaces reside, is dominated by floor-to-ceiling glazing, offering panoramic, uninterrupted views of the Waitematā Harbour and the Waitakere Ranges. This strategic orientation maximizes daylight and sun capture throughout the day, creating a distinct zoning within each residence. The addition of a glass-walled internal courtyard in each apartment further enhances the design, drawing diffused light deep into the center of the floor plan and facilitating natural cross-ventilation, ensuring the air quality and connection to the outdoors remain paramount.
The Social Kitchen: Ergonomics and Aesthetics
The core design philosophy for the interiors, led by Artifact co-founder Sophie Wylie and interior designer Amelia Holmes, centered on creating kitchens that were highly functional for entertaining but visually recessive. The target demographic of downsizers still enjoys hosting, requiring a space that is both an ergonomic workspace and a refined social hub.
The material palette in the kitchens is deliberately rich and tactile, combining dark-stained oak cabinetry with natural slate benchtops and central marble islands. The goal was for the appliances to support this material narrative, rather than interrupt it. As Sophie Wylie noted, the selection of Fisher & Paykel’s Minimal Style and integrated products was crucial because they are “minimal and clean,” working seamlessly with the dark wood stain to achieve a cohesive, sophisticated aesthetic.
The layout itself is anchored by a central island bench, which serves as the social divide between the kitchen and the living area. One end of this island is specifically configured as a bar, establishing a natural gathering space that connects directly to the winter garden, an enclosed, all-weather covered deck with frameless glass doors. This design ensures that the entire social zone—kitchen, bar, living, and outdoor space—operates as one fluid, versatile area optimized for entertaining and daily life.
The Integrated Approach: Receding Appliances
The masterful integration of appliances is the technical and aesthetic linchpin of the apartment interiors. The design team meticulously selected Fisher & Paykel products specifically for their ability to disappear or, where visible, present a refined, minimal façade.
A suite of wall-mounted Minimal Ovens—including a Combination Steam Oven and a self-cleaning oven—are slotted vertically into the tall oak cabinetry. This positioning achieves a significant ergonomic advantage, eliminating the need for residents to bend down, a key consideration for the older buyer demographic. Their sophisticated glass fronts and reduced interface, featuring minimal buttons or color, allow them to blend seamlessly with the cabinetry, only revealing their complexity upon use.
Similarly, the large Integrated Column Fridge-Freezer and adjacent integrated wine cabinet vanish behind custom timber panelling, preserving the clean, vertical lines of the wall unit. Even in the cleanup area, two Integrated Single DishDrawer™ Dishwashers flank the sink below the benchtop. This placement, which avoids stacking, is another ergonomic choice that reduces bending and allows the units to be completely concealed behind matching cabinet fronts, making the kitchen read more as bespoke furniture than a utility room.
Design Freedom: Beyond the Kitchen Work Triangle
The selection and distribution of Fisher & Paykel appliances in the Jervois Apartments align perfectly with the brand’s philosophy of “Design Freedom” and the “Social Kitchen”. This approach moves beyond the traditional kitchen work triangle, focusing instead on tailoring the layout to the specific patterns of use and the resident’s lifestyle.
By distributing appliances modularly—placing the ovens on the wall, the integrated refrigeration columns near the butler’s pantry, and dual DishDrawers at the sink—the design team optimized the kitchen for simultaneous activity. This allows the residents to handle intense cooking in the butler’s pantry while guests gather effortlessly around the main island bar and wine cabinet. The result is a space that is not only beautiful but intuitively supports a multi-functional lifestyle.
Even in the compact laundry area off the main hallway, the principle of integration is maintained. Graphite-colored washers and dryers are stacked vertically to maximize floor space, their hue chosen to visually connect with the dark, sophisticated palette of the adjacent kitchen materials. This dedication to cohesive materiality across all utility spaces reinforces the overall sense of bespoke, architectural resolution throughout the residence, making the Jervois Apartments a sophisticated example of appliances supporting, rather than dominating, luxury architecture.
