Holiday Cabins
The corner site steps down from a main road and extends along a cul de sac to a creek some 100meters from Surfdale beach. Surrounded by typical kiwi baches this project presented an opportunity to explore a 2 storey cabin prototype which returned to the simplicity of traditional bach buildings whilst offering the potential of repeating and siting another cabin module to make a settlement of indoor and outdoor rooms and at the same time taking advantage of the unusual existing use right of 2 legally established buildings on this 900m2 Waiheke site.
The concept was to stack two different townplanning uses on top of each other in order to minimize the building coverage footprint on the site and to orient the living rooms away from the street edges and towards the sea view beyond.
The variation of these 2 uses is reflected in the façade. The lower part accommodating recreational storage, utilities and a ground level games area is clad with translucent polycarbonate. This area is filled with natural light during the daytime, and turns into a glowing lightbox at night.
The upper living spaces clad in dark metal appears as a monolithic volume punctuated by precise window cutouts and a generous gabled porch at one end enabling views of the immediate landscape and views beyond.
At night the dark upper volume of the cabins appear to float across the site touching the ground lightly.