Mount Eden Bungalow Renovation — Family Life Around Deck and Pool
Mount Eden Bungalow Renovation reshapes a character house in Mount Eden, Auckland, New Zealand into a contemporary family base by Nala Studio Architects. The renovation aligns a heritage bungalow shell with current patterns of work, entertaining, and rest, threading new rooms, a pool, and a sauna through the existing fabric. Careful planning preserves street charm while turning the interior into a more adaptable home for everyday use.
Morning light draws down the restored hallway, catching timber grain and the soft edge of built-in storage. Beyond, the house opens toward deck, pool, and sky.
This is a compact suburban plot, yet the plan feels generous as rooms unfold from a central spine and reach north toward water and lawn. Nala Studio Architects reworks the traditional bungalow typology into a house tuned to contemporary family rhythms, centering program, circulation, and daily use. Work, play, and retreat sit closer together now, without crowding.
The project is a renovation of an early 20th-century bungalow in Mount Eden, recast as a flexible family house with contemporary amenity. Within the heritage envelope, the architect shapes new rooms and outdoor areas around how the household actually lives: working from home, gathering friends, managing school-age routines. The throughline is not stylistic bravado but the way each room answers a specific task, from a dedicated makeup station to a sauna pavilion.
Reworking The Bungalow Plan
The original dual porches set both opportunity and constraint, guiding how the new arrangement grows from the existing frame. One porch becomes an en suite for the primary bedroom, complete with walk-through wardrobe and a bespoke hair and makeup station that removes clutter from the main bathroom. The other porch is retained and slightly enlarged to form a covered entry, so daily arrival still reads as a classic bungalow moment while gaining shelter and clarity.
Hallway As Everyday Spine
The central hallway, typical of the period, shifts from dark corridor to active backbone. Integrated storage lines the route, pulling coats, bags, and household overflow into tidy order and freeing bedrooms from excess furniture. Off this axis sits a flexible media room with a built-in desk, calibrated for study, work, or relaxed viewing depending on the time of day. Children’s bedrooms are refreshed, and a new fourth room extends the plan to handle guests or a dedicated home office as needs change.
Living Around Deck And Pool
North-facing living areas open out to a generous timber deck and pool, turning everyday routines toward light and fresh air. A large kitchen island anchors cooking and gathering, while a concealed scullery hides preparation behind seamless cabinetry so the main room stays clear during entertaining. Floor-to-ceiling sliding doors widen the connection between interior and outdoor terrace, and frameless glass pool fencing keeps sightlines open for supervision and conversation. Lawn, barbecue zone, and sauna pavilion extend social life outward, creating distinct pockets for different ages and activities.
Custom Joinery For Family Use
Custom joinery runs through the project like a quiet infrastructure: kitchen cabinets, wardrobe systems, window seats, shelving, and small work nooks adapt to specific tasks. Each room gains storage scaled to its role, which supports clear floors and flexible layouts as the family grows. Practical touches such as outdoor power points and accessible towel storage near the pool and sauna show attention to the small frictions of daily life. A contextual contemporary wall along the boundary resolves pool safety regulations while working with the retained dry-stacked stone, aligning code demands with lived use.
By the time evening falls, the house settles into a calm pattern, with bedrooms, lounge, and deck each holding a different level of activity. Heritage character remains at the street, yet inside the plan now flows with the grain of family routine. The renovation threads new comforts—extra accommodation, work zones, and generous outdoor rituals—into a familiar bungalow silhouette, tuned to a heritage neighbourhood and current ways of living.
Photography courtesy of Nala Studio Architects
Visit Nala Studio Architects
