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Beach Bach on Waiheke Island Updates New Zealand Traditions

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Beautifully engineered huge windows open upwards, creating shelter from Waiheke island’s unique climate that features surprising but very brief showers during otherwise warm sunny days.

When open, the effect is a reference to traditional New Zealand verandas with “veranda posts” left standing under the shelter and shade of the “veranda” roof.

Another witty update – an architectural version of the louvred glass windows typically found in New Zealand bathrooms.

Boundaries between interior and exterior are persistently broken down in this house.

Designed for aging-in-place for a semi-retired couple, wide polished concrete floors offer ease of movement and single level accessibility.

From a remote corner of Waiheke, a half hour ferry ride from the city, the Owhanake Bay house faces out towards the many islands dotting Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf.

The long, narrow house crossing a steep slope is broken up by two semi-screened outdoor rooms with access to seasonal afternoon sun.

Textures are intimate, warm and dark, with dark and naturally weathering woods suited to the harsh coastal climate.

The lush tropical garden (and potential damp and mould) is kept at bay by white stucco walls walling off any possible encroachment.

Almost all New Zealand houses have had corrugated iron roofs, ever since the Victorian kit set houses were first shipped out from the old country.

Here this tradition is updated as a shed roof.

The long narrow shape is interspersed with open-air pavilions offering open air living that is also part of the traditional vernacular.

A sign greets visitors driving off the Waiheke Island car ferry with: “Slow down: you’re here.”

Here’s a house exudes that famously slow pace known locally as “island time.”