A Waiheke family residence: Local Rock House

 Waiheke Island, Auckland, New Zealand 

Architects: Patterson Associates

Photography © Simon Devitt

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A luxury summer residence located on a steep east facing coastal escarpment just above a pohutukawa fringed white sand beach on Waiheke Island, the Local Rock house was purposely designed with a composition that seeks to create a sense of its place in New Zealand.

A beautifully composed and proportioned assembly of simple and assertive orthogonal forms is skilfully massed on a tight site. The hard, good looks of the house are softened by the texture of the local rock, with no sacrifice to the restrained refinement of the composition.

Nestled beneath a canopy of Pohutukawa leaves and above white sand beaches, the home harmoniously blends into it’s natural surroundings. Rock walls encase the central living area, providing a contrast with the finely louvered bedrooms above.

The interior is exquisitely crafted and detailed; as on the exterior, materials are masterfully deployed. This house, especially its main living floor and its light-giving rear courtyard, would be a wonderful place for summer gatherings. The programme is skilfully handled and the building mass cleverly minimised: the house is an exercise in understated bravura.

Completed in 2010, this Waiheke family residence has stood the test of time.

Patterson Associates have created this Summer residence on Waiheke Island. A place famous for fine vineyards with illustrious names such as Cable Bay, ManOWar and Passage Rock. The island is also the location for some of Auckland’s finest holiday houses and this home is located on a steep coastal escarpment above a tree fringed white sand beach on its northern coast. The quality of the Waiheke wine is attributed to its geology; seams of pyrite rock criss cross the island like veins. It’s this geology that gives the grapes, primarily Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec, their distinctive local Waiheke taste. The design uses this same local pyrite stratum as a building material to create a sense of place and belonging in its Architecture. The rocky mass of the home was been arranged as a bridge, open both sides to exploit both the beach frontage and the afternoon sun. Under this, a main living area nestles safely into the escarpment between a spacious ocean-front pool terrace and a grotto-like western courtyard to the west. The owners often use this grotto as an outdoor movie theatre. Bedroom suites are grouped above as finely scaled, romantic and louvered lookouts in the canopy line of the trees lining the clear waters of the beach. The home has been designed to sustainably belong on the island; it uses an innovative air heating and cooling system to provide an efficient, even temperature gradient right through all levels, as well as incorporating an onsite waste treatment station and a reticulated water system with a large rain storage facility. But Pattersons say it’s the way the building uses its rock materiality to belong in the beauty of its setting that is truly sustainable as it enables its occupants to feel the same way.

Awards:

NZIA Resene Regional Award for Architecture, 2010

NZIA Resene New Zealand Award for Architecture, 2011

2011 New Zealand Architecture Awards Winner