Designing homes for the Bay's landscape, light, and way of life
OTO Group Architecture designs residential projects in Hawke's Bay, from lifestyle properties on the Tukituki River through to homes in Havelock North, Napier, Hastings, and the rural plains beyond. We're based in Mangawhai but we work regularly in the region and travel to every site.
Hawke's Bay has a building character that's hard to find anywhere else in New Zealand. Long, dry summers. More sunshine hours than almost any other region. Fertile plains backed by the Ruahine and Kaweka ranges. A wine country landscape shaped by generations of growers and makers. And a quality of indoor-outdoor living that the climate makes not just possible but essential.
We design homes that respond to all of this. Open, grounded buildings that connect to the land they sit on. Generous outdoor rooms that work as hard as the indoor ones. Materials chosen for the Bay's dry heat in summer, its cold snaps in winter, and its seismic reality.
Hawke's Bay has a building character that's hard to find anywhere else in New Zealand. Long, dry summers. More sunshine hours than almost any other region. Fertile plains backed by the Ruahine and Kaweka ranges. A wine country landscape shaped by generations of growers and makers. And a quality of indoor-outdoor living that the climate makes not just possible but essential.
We design homes that respond to all of this. Open, grounded buildings that connect to the land they sit on. Generous outdoor rooms that work as hard as the indoor ones. Materials chosen for the Bay's dry heat in summer, its cold snaps in winter, and its seismic reality.
Havelock North and Te Mata
Havelock North sits at the foot of Te Mata Peak in one of the most desirable residential settings in the country. The village feel, the proximity to vineyards and restaurants along Te Mata Road, and the views up to the peak itself create a context where architecture needs to be quietly confident rather than loud.
We enjoy designing in this kind of setting. A house below Te Mata doesn't need to compete with the landscape. It needs to frame it, to open toward it, and to feel like it belongs. That means careful thinking about orientation, roof form, and materials that sit comfortably against the dry grass and limestone of the surrounding hills.
The Tukituki River valley running south from Havelock North offers some of the most beautiful residential sites in the region. Properties along the river and up into the foothills often come with generous land, established trees, and long views. Designing here means thinking about the relationship between the house and the wider landscape at a scale that suburban sites don't offer.
We enjoy designing in this kind of setting. A house below Te Mata doesn't need to compete with the landscape. It needs to frame it, to open toward it, and to feel like it belongs. That means careful thinking about orientation, roof form, and materials that sit comfortably against the dry grass and limestone of the surrounding hills.
The Tukituki River valley running south from Havelock North offers some of the most beautiful residential sites in the region. Properties along the river and up into the foothills often come with generous land, established trees, and long views. Designing here means thinking about the relationship between the house and the wider landscape at a scale that suburban sites don't offer.
Napier and Ahuriri
Napier's identity is tied to its architecture in a way that few New Zealand cities can match. The Art Deco rebuilding after the 1931 earthquake gave the city a built character that's recognised internationally. Working within or alongside that heritage context requires sensitivity and a light touch.
In Ahuriri, the old warehouses and industrial buildings along the waterfront have become some of the most interesting residential and hospitality spaces in the Bay. Adaptive reuse, where you take an existing structure and rework it for a new purpose without losing what made it interesting in the first place, is something we're drawn to. It connects to how we approach renovation more broadly: working with what's there rather than erasing it.
On Napier's hillside suburbs like Bluff Hill and Hospital Hill, the sites are steep, the views are extraordinary, and the wind can be fierce. These are conditions that reward good design thinking, where the way you enter the house, the way you manage the slope, and the way you shelter from the prevailing weather all need to work together.
In Ahuriri, the old warehouses and industrial buildings along the waterfront have become some of the most interesting residential and hospitality spaces in the Bay. Adaptive reuse, where you take an existing structure and rework it for a new purpose without losing what made it interesting in the first place, is something we're drawn to. It connects to how we approach renovation more broadly: working with what's there rather than erasing it.
On Napier's hillside suburbs like Bluff Hill and Hospital Hill, the sites are steep, the views are extraordinary, and the wind can be fierce. These are conditions that reward good design thinking, where the way you enter the house, the way you manage the slope, and the way you shelter from the prevailing weather all need to work together.
Wine country and rural properties
Hawke's Bay is one of the world's recognised wine regions, and the architecture of the vineyards has become part of the experience. From the Gimblett Gravels through to the slopes behind Craggy Range, the relationship between buildings and productive land is central to how the region presents itself.
We design homes on rural and lifestyle properties where the land isn't just a setting but an active part of how you live. That might mean a homestead on a working block near Maraekakaho, a retreat above the river at Tukituki, or a family home on the edge of a vineyard with views back toward Te Mata Peak. In each case, the building needs to work with the scale and openness of the landscape, not shrink from it.
Rural sites in Hawke's Bay often come with their own infrastructure requirements: water supply, wastewater treatment, access roads, and power. We factor all of this into the design from the start so there are no surprises.
We design homes on rural and lifestyle properties where the land isn't just a setting but an active part of how you live. That might mean a homestead on a working block near Maraekakaho, a retreat above the river at Tukituki, or a family home on the edge of a vineyard with views back toward Te Mata Peak. In each case, the building needs to work with the scale and openness of the landscape, not shrink from it.
Rural sites in Hawke's Bay often come with their own infrastructure requirements: water supply, wastewater treatment, access roads, and power. We factor all of this into the design from the start so there are no surprises.
Designing after Cyclone Gabrielle
Cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023 reshaped how Hawke's Bay thinks about building. Flood plains that were once considered safe are now viewed differently. Geotechnical requirements have tightened. Silt-damaged homes have raised difficult questions about what to repair, what to rebuild, and where to build at all.
We approach these questions honestly. If a site has flood risk, we'll tell you. If a repair makes more sense than a new build, we'll say so. And if you're building from scratch in a post-Gabrielle landscape, we design with resilience in mind: raised floor levels where appropriate, materials and construction methods that can handle water exposure, and drainage strategies that account for extreme weather rather than pretending it won't happen again.
We approach these questions honestly. If a site has flood risk, we'll tell you. If a repair makes more sense than a new build, we'll say so. And if you're building from scratch in a post-Gabrielle landscape, we design with resilience in mind: raised floor levels where appropriate, materials and construction methods that can handle water exposure, and drainage strategies that account for extreme weather rather than pretending it won't happen again.
Why work with us in Hawke's Bay?
We bring something different to the region. Nicholas trained at the Aarhus School of Architecture in Denmark, where design is grounded in material honesty, human proportion, and working from the inside out. That Scandinavian sensibility translates naturally to the Hawke's Bay context, where the climate, the light, and the landscape all call for buildings that are open, warm, and connected to their setting.
We work with hand drawings and physical models. We bring builders into the conversation during design, not after it. We design and build custom details in our own workshop, from door handles to furniture. And we're upfront about costs from the first conversation.
If you're thinking about building or renovating in Hawke's Bay, we'd like to hear from you.
We work with hand drawings and physical models. We bring builders into the conversation during design, not after it. We design and build custom details in our own workshop, from door handles to furniture. And we're upfront about costs from the first conversation.
If you're thinking about building or renovating in Hawke's Bay, we'd like to hear from you.