Herriot + Melhuish Architecture Ltd
Project Location:
Waimarama Beach, Hawkes Bay
Categories:
Residential Architectural Excellence
Project Description:
Positioned on a narrow site overlooking the beach and fronting the Waimarama domain, this four bedroom family residence also needs to be relocatable, if required by the local council.
It is a simple composition of two interlocking volumes: a white single storey bedroom wing, loosely derived from the planning of ‘shearers quarters’, inserted obliquely into the two storey ‘timber crate’.
The forms are then extended, layered and truncated in response to site, views, sun and programme. The resultant north-facing courtyard not only leads to the front door but also provides outdoor family space – strongly connected to the house and sheltered from the afternoon sea breezes.
The composition of oiled cedar weatherboards, painted plywood and weathered zinc sheet, connects the house to the wild Hawke’s Bay landscape, but equally, clearly sets it apart from its neighbours. This house is strongly tied to the land but is prepared to move, if the sands and tides shift against it.