Our Difference
World Class Design
World Class Design
Global thinking. Local living.
We’ve travelled the world to visit some of the most awarded residential projects on the globe. So 26 Aroha is packed with loads of innovative ways to live.
We have taken ideas from the best we have seen in Denmark, Berlin, Melbourne, Vienna, and Zurich and merged them with the things that excite us about our beloved Auckland and NZ’s wild outdoors.
Ideas that have inspired us
Co-housing
Originating in Denmark 40 years ago and now a popular global housing model, co-housing is a community of sustainable homes clustered around shared spaces and communal activities – including cooking, laundry and gardening – and they usually have a common house where people hang out together.
Baugruppen
From Germany the Baugruppen model of shared urban housing – designed collaboratively by the families that live in them – has now spread around the world including the US, UK and Australia.
The Living Building Challenge (northwest USA)
The Living Building Challenge (LBC) is a methodology for designing and building to the very highest sustainability standards. Extremely difficult to acheive in an apartment setting 26 Aroha has been guided by LBCs principles for energy and water efficiency, healthy building materials, beauty, and positive impact on the neighbourhood and ecosystem.
Communal spaces
Leading residential developments around the world dedicate more space to shared facilities, such as laundries, guest rooms, social spaces, dining areas, cars and gardens. This reduces cost and brings people together. 26 Aroha has incorporated a bunch of these ideas.
Medium-density housing
Cities around the world have dealt with the housing shortages now facing Auckland with good quality ‘medium density’ housing models.
Mt Albert-Eden needs to accomodate 25,000 more people over the next 15 years. The local area has been rezoned to accomodate medium density housing that could provide housing in the future.
We think the quality design and focus on sustainable and cooperative living makes 26 Aroha a good example of how this could be achieved.
Green building
Many other countries, especially those in colder climates, design buildings that are more efficient at keeping warm in winter and cool in summer. We’ve borrowed some of this thinking for 26 Aroha, including wrapping the building in a cosy blanket of insulation common in European housing. 26 Aroha is currently being rated for homestar and we are expecting an 8 or 9 rating which demonstrates an elite level of green building performance.
Zero waste
In the worldwide movement to reduce waste by buying products with less packaging and recycling. Auckland has set an ambitous target to be zero waste by 2040.
26 Aroha has been awarded a Waste Minimisation Grant from Auckland City Council to model low waste living.
Permaculture
Permaculture is a system of design that mimics nature to provide for human needs. Enjoying the shared gardens and their produce with your neighbours is a big part of this and an advantage to living at 26 Aroha. Owner Jules is trained in permaculture principles and has applied them to ensure the shared gardens are sustainable, nutrient rich and easy to maintain.
Places that have inspired us
Nightingale (Australia)
Starting with the multi-award winning The Commons apartments in Melbourne, Nightingale housing sets the standard in Australiasia for how owners, designers and builders can come together to make beautiful, sustainable, economical, neighbourly places to live together. We have a lot to thank the original founders, Jeremy McLeod and Tamara Veltre for their generosity in sharing their ideas and encouraging our project.
Earthsong Eco-Neighbourhood (west Auckland)
In the early 2000’s a group lead by the wonderful Robin Allison designed and built Earthsong; NZ’s original co-housing project. It has since been the inspiration for many more and is an excellent example of cooperative development and shared living which has provided much inspiration for how people might live at 26 Aroha.
New Ground Living (NZ)
Providing Kiwis with good quality secure rental accommodation is our mission and one of our main inspirations right here in New Zealand has been New Ground Living. They are pioneers in long term build-to-rent accommodation in our country with their homes in Hobsonville and have been very generous to us with their knowledge and experience.
Ockham's Daisy apartments (NZ)
Ockham’s Daisy apartments were the first 10 star apartment development in NZ, setting a standard for what is possible for sustainable apartment living and inspiring us with ideas such as their shared car.
R50 (Berlin)
Solutions we love
Beautifully crafted kitchens by use-d
From design to install Sarah and Alex from use-d have created beutiful kitchens for us, crafted with architectural ply and recycled materials.
use-d are masters of recycled beauty.
Luxurious corkoleum floors from Ecofloors
Soft warm spongy cork based Corkoleum is laid throughout 26 Aroha. Imported from Portugal where it is harvested from the bark of cork trees, this flooring is sustainable and looks wonderful.
Elegant bathroom and kitchen fixtures from Franklins
From the porcelain Bette showers and german Hansa taps, to the beautiful hand basins in our guest room and lonely loo, Franklins have provided awesome solutions and personal attention from Director James for our kitchens and bathrooms.
Cosy warm wool insulation from Terra Lana
The internal walls are lined with sustainable wool based insulation from Terra Lana, keeping our apartments cosy, soundproof and breathable.
Polaris Ply from Plytech in our kitchens
Exquisite black Polaris ply from Plytech used in our kitchens is one of the features of our apartments. It looks and feels beautiful, and is designed to handle the rigors of the kitchen environment.
Solar hot water from Ewa-Tec
Our apartments are generously supplied with energy efficient hot water by Ewa-Tec’s solar hot water system. Eric’s passion for efficiency and pride in his solution are impressive.
Solar power & power metering from Sunergise
Sunergise have provided us with a great quality solar power solution and installed it professionally with personal attention from Paul their CEO. They have also provided the metering system we use to monitor electricity use and distribute costs to our residents.
External cladding system from Rooflogic
Rooflogic have custom designed and installed an external cladding system for us that brings the thermal performance of cold weather countries to our NZ apartments.
Our Partners
We proudly engaged some of New Zealand’s best architects, engineers and builders to design and construct 26 Aroha.
Address
26 Aroha Avenue, Sandringham
Auckland, New Zealand