Hawkes Bay Home Renovation Building Company

Refresh has completed more than 1,000 renovations through New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom and North America.
The Refresh home renovation builder is aware of the unique Art Deco style in the Hawkes Bays region, can advise on the type of work needed for consent and will arrange building consent with the council. Without good project management, a typical renovation could could incur cost blowouts in the region of 30% of total budget. To minimize this, Refresh Renovations works on a design and build process to save homeowner's money. Refresh uses an easy step-by-step approach by creating a detailed plan, using better materials for costings as well as a project manager as your one point of contact in your home renovation project.
The Hawkes Bay Region is a unique province. Art Deco style was a worldwide phenomenon in the 1920's and was adopted widely in both major cities of Hastings and Napier. The style survived the 1931 earthquake, and remained the main building style until the 1940's. Oddly enough, “Art Deco” was not coined as such until the 1960's. It describes a brash, confident 20th Century development style of modernisation. A departure from the Classical Edwardian style, it was a profound statement of freedom after “the War that ends all wars” - a simplification of the traditional lavished ornamental design on buildings in the name of progress.
In 1919, the Bauhaus Design School in Germany adopted “the building as a machine” philosophy designing from the drawings to bring glass, steel and white concrete to life. This became the main building influence in Britain and Europe of the 1930's. In 1930, the schools were forcefully closed and the Bauhaus Designers were uprooted from Germany and settled in America by the mid 1930's. The designers firmly believed that buildings with ornamental designs were unnecessary and inherently bad - where form should follow function, and an object designed to do its job well is automatically beautiful. It was called “International Style” as it was a style of building that was used worldwide without consideration of the local techniques, climate, materials and culture. This international style was adopted by the Hawkes Bay region.
In stark contrast, another style influencing Hawkes Bay were the mansions of Hollywood movies stars. Their smooth, creamed, cemented plaster mud brick walls were promoted for their earthquake-proof reinforced concrete. Based on the Spanish Mission Stations style, the tiled parapets were to protect the walls from erosions by rain. Small square or larger rounded windows and balconies had included elements of Spanish ornaments. The inlay tiles, wrought iron and baroque decoration was opposite of the International Style. It was debated in the Hawkes Bay, whether it should be the main style because of the 1926 Santa Barbara Earthquake in North California which had forced reconstruction in the Spanish Mission style. This was rejected but the elements of “Free Spanish” ornamental designs were added as a juxtaposition statement to make the “Art Deco” uniquely Hawkes Bay.
Included in the “Art Deco” Style of Hawkes Bay is the Chicago School style that was made with wide rounded “arched in cube form” of the 1880's and 1890's. Also, the Prairie Style Houses, with projected flat roofs and horizontal ledges, gave protection to deep-set windows with geometric decoration and a raised band giving panelled effect to the rough casted stucco. This typically follows the early Frank Wright Prairie buildings of the early 20th Century that became the favourite of many mid-western Architects. 

Get in touch with Refresh to discuss your home renovation project

If you would like to discuss home renovation options for your next renovation project, please use the enquiry form on this page to provide us with your contact details. We will get in touch with you at a time that suits you to discuss your project. If you would like to provide us with more information about your project, we have a more comprehensive enquiry form on our "Get in touch" page too.