Set for life
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Back in 1965, when McRaeway Homes founder Ian McRae was successful in winning the contract to supply 200 garages for the new hydro town of Twizel, few would have suspected that it was the start of something big. But it was. Some forty years later, McRaeway Homes designs and builds more than 200 homes a year across New Zealand and offers a portfolio of more than 40 standard home plans. Ian McRae's willingness to embrace new ways of doing things led him to the conclusion that kitset component building was a direction worth pursuing. Today, Ian McRae's daughter Raewyn Bell and McRaeway's General Manager Matt Tipa are continuing the company's commitment to making it as affordable as possible to realise the dream of home ownership. In their new Cosmos home design, McRaeway Homes has achieved a striking contemporary look by combining James Hardie's Linea® Weatherboard with distinctive Titan® Facade Panels.
“Every time we design a new house, we pay special attention to the external cladding,” says Matt Tipa. “It's the first thing people see. Older houses incorporated a lot of detail to achieve impact, however these days there's a move towards using a mix of contrasting materials and textures to create the same effect.” The story behind the Cosmos is quite literally a tale of two halves. In fact, as Matt Tipa reveals, each side of the house is a mirror image of the other. “It's a fairly simple design principle,” says Matt. “Basically, if we drew a line down the middle of the house and folded it over, the two ends would meet. It just makes for a nice, balanced feel to the layout. I've got a real thing for the Cosmos. It's the kind of place I'd love to build myself in a great location.” Already the Cosmos design has captured the imagination of potential homebuyers nationwide, with over 20,000 people having viewed at least one of the McRaeway Cosmos display homes. “It's been the most amazing drawcard for us,” says Raewyn Bell. ”It's not a mainstream design like many of our homes, but it's really practical and very liveable.”
The front entry to the Cosmos is dominated by the geometric arrangement of the Titan panels, painted in the deep blue of Resene Warrior. It's the perfect tonal counterpoint to the more subtly shaded Linea Weatherboard (Resene Papier Mache) and works brilliantly with the vivid red used on the front door (Resene Dynamite). “It's a strong, gutsy house that transforms from one style to another,” says Matt Tipa. “It unfolds from the Titan panel through the textured look of the Linea and then the suspended verandah takes it away.” Inside, the open plan layout of the communal living areas makes for a relaxed, informal ambience. Tarket timber flooring lines the dining space which adjoins both the kitchen and the family lounge room and a frosted glass wall replicates the look of the Titan cubes on the exterior walls. Both of these areas open on to a large shaded deck, with ranchsliders from the lounge and powder coated aluminium bi-fold windows from the kitchen.
The Cosmos is a 3-bedroom home. Each room is double-sized and offers more than ample built-in storage. Quality fittings are central to McRaeway's company ethos and can be found in the lounge, with its Jetmaster gas fire, in the kitchen with wall-to-wall Fisher & Paykel appliances and in both bathrooms Athena Seville shower boxes and Smails Pepe wall-hung vanities. McRaeway Homes is justifiably proud and protective of its heritage as the leader in kitset home building. As they see it, the term kitset merely relates to the method of delivery. As can be seen in the Cosmos, building in excellence in every component guarantees a home that is wholly impressive.
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