How They Pulled It Off: A Transparent Deck Roof That Brightens Up a Moody Renovation

Welcome to How They Pulled It Off, where we take a close look at one particularly challenging aspect of a home design and get the nitty-gritty details about how it became a reality.

The team at Pac Studio had their work cut out for them when renovating a home for a couple in Auckland, New Zealand. The original space was dim and cramped, and the clients were on a tight budget—but Pac Studio found a clever solution to bring the light in. Taking cues from their clients’ collection of rock music photography, the architects also took inspiration from a leather jacket (black, of course), creating a moody and dimensional space. 

The original house was built in the early 1900s, and, at some point around the 1980s, gained an addition that was too small with poor circulation. "It’s a common theme with these old houses. People buy the house knowing there’s a problematic bit they’ll have to resolve," says Pac Studio director Sarosh Mulla. In this case, as well as with other houses in the neighborhood, the extension often clashes with the original scale and materials, and often is far from weatherproof (read: leaky).