Architect Visit: A Kiwi Beach Compound, Cross-Cultural Edition - Remodelista
Back in 1995, an Auckland family commissioned architect Pip Cheshire to design a vacation hideaway near Whale Bay, one of the nicest eastern coastal stretches in New Zealand. Photographs by Patrick Reynolds, courtesy of Cheshire Architects. It was built for a “poet banker,” his partner, and their four kids, and functions as a main clubhouse–most of the bedrooms have since moved to separate buildings on the jungly hill overlooking the beach. Inspired by huts in Fiji and Tonga that have high, steeply pitched roofs of thatch resting on wooden posts and beams, the Davis Bure, as the house is known, weathers the elements with a corrugated metal roof. Cheshire designed the structure when he was a director at Jasmax, one of New Zealand’s largest architecture firms; he has since founded his own practice, Cheshire Architects of Auckland, and works with his son, architect Nat Cheshire (watch for Nat’s own groundbreaking hut design in the coming weeks). “In the islands woven mats are used on the windward side between the columns to enclose the form and provide shelter, but our somewhat more temperate climate meant we used timber frame infill with big openings to capture the horizontal views out,” Cheshire says. The interior of the hut is a cocoon of plywood. The main room of the bure has a soaring ceiling and an open second story loft for sleeping. “The rafters are a basic truss arrangement made from pinus radiata, which New Zealand grows by the billion,” explains Cheshire. A family weekend day in the bure. Daybeds along the perimeter of the room are made into beds when the compound fills up. The custom-built kitchen has cabinets of jarrah with a woven-steel mesh infill. Mounted under the cabinets, a steel rail serves as a utensil catchall. Floating stairs of plywood with galvanized steel railings lead to the loft. Of the bar railings, Cheshire told us: “They’re very steep stairs and I wanted lots to hang on to.” Narrow kids’ beds are slotted under the rafters–initially the whole family of six could sleep in the house. The boathouse is one of several outbuildings that the family asked Cheshire to add to the site over the years. The communal bathroom is made of concrete crowned with a prefabricated, galvanized iron structure. It’s located on the uphill side of the boathouse and has two sinks and two showers. A vast bedroom is located in what’s known as Sleepout 2, about 70 yards from the bure. A bunk room with built-in metal piping beds and storage shelves. An outdoor fireplace at the compound’s formal entry–for gathering to “stare at the stars, drink whiskey, and argue about Malevich et al.” A view of the hillside compound with the bure and the boathouse roofs peeking through the greenery. Off the main room of the bure, a terrace offers prime ocean views. Woolleys Bay is one of several beaches just below the compound.