LOW PROFILE

Sometimes, strict covenants can be a blessing in disguise.

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When architects Cecile Bonnifait and William Giesen of Bonnifait + Giesen received the brief for a new Hawke’s Bay home from their clients Catherine and David Robertson, they could have thrown their hands up before they even started. The site came with a long, prescribed building platform and a four-metre height limit, both of which seriously limited the design options. But Bonnifait and Giesen embraced the challenge and designed a one-level home perfectly suited to the region’s greatest – and harshest – asset: sunshine.