Hideaway Home

Our clients wanted a private luxurious hideaway for themselves and their visitors to spend time in when visiting New Zealand from their native USA. The location, directly adjacent to the first fairway on one of the world’s most well-known and respected golf courses certainly added a hint of complexity to an otherwise quite simply stated brief.

A palette of subtle, natural textures was chosen, along with a simple and elegant form, to hide the building ‘in plain sight’.  Located only seventy metres from the middle of the first fairway, the house barely attracts attention, with many golfers failing to notice this gem nestled amongst the sand dunes and vegetation that itself forms part of the complexity of this challenging links.

Working with our internationally respected interior designer client was certainly rewarding, and meant we were encouraged to work at a level of detail seldom touched upon in residential design in New Zealand. The result has been a carefully crafted and beautifully built house that belies its simplicity and delivers a relaxing and calming living environment for its owners and visitors.

The use of natural materials in the home was always going to be important, with it being located in such a sensitive environmental area. That there was a desire to allow the building to blend seamlessly with its context only added to that need.

The result is a building that blurs the transitional space from inside to outside, despite the forms being quite regular, and the materials used internally compliment the natural textures and colours of the surrounding landscape.

At various points in the house, views to the outside are emphasised, and occupants are kept aware of exactly where they are and how the building relates to the ‘edge’ between heavily forested land, via the rough ‘link land’ to the coast beyond.

The house remains a calming, tranquil place, off the golf course whilst being strongly connected to it, and allows visitors and the owners to choose the level of engagement they wish to have with others, as well as with the surrounding landscape and facilities.