This low-cost house was designed and built for a Pakeha family, not a Maori one. The porch, or verandah, at the front is there simply because it is such a useful, sociable and sunny place to have in a house. It is also a way of getting extra living space comparatively cheaply. It is really an extension of the living room, which lies behind it. Many modern homes have similar verandahs, or terraces, these days. Two Designs for Family Homes by G. Rosenberg The writer, Mr G. Rosenberg, is a senior lecturer at the School of Architecture, University of Auckland. In this article he considers some possible ways of dealing with problems involved in designing comfortable well-planned low-budget homes for large families. What suits one family may not suit another. In building a new home, it is important carefully to consider all the possibilities, so that the result will be right for the people who have to live in it. It is hoped that this article may be of interest to people planning to build their own home. Like all articles appearing in ‘Te Ao Hou’, it does not necessarily express the official policy of the Maori Affairs Department. The Department has recently published an attractive booklet, ‘Homes for the People’, giving much information, concerning both ways and means and possible plans, which will be valuable to people thinking of building. This booklet is available free of charge from all branches of the Maori Affairs Department.—Ed. As an architect I have been interested for some years in the task of designing houses that would be particularly suitable for Maori owners and tenants, and which would at the same time be readily saleable to Pakehas if the need arose.

Large Families with Little Money I have thought about houses that would be right for large families with little money. In such houses one would have to ‘use every inch of space’ as the saying goes. One would also have to incorporate many features which Maoris would like, but which Pakehas would not necessarily notice, or dislike if they did notice them (a house for a large family would, of course, suit many large Pakeha families as well). In 1961 I designed the three-bedroom house which is shown in the photograph above and in the plan on the next page. It is a variation