A miner’s hut architectural build in the Punakaiki bush

With these parameters in mind, a design was conceived around the traditional miner’s hut  featuring an external smoke stack and metal roof and cladding, but with a luxury twist in the interior. 

“The miner’s hut inspired very minimalist detailing in what is otherwise a very complex building geometry,” says Coll. “We also wanted to make sure that from inside you really felt a sense of place, so that informed the materiality.”

In the interior, a full timber structure in the form of cross laminated timber as chosen to represent the historic miner’s hut aesthetic. But unlike an old hut, this building’s passive thermal gain and highly insulated construction, along with an active ventilation system, ensures it maintains stable internal and surface temperatures with no need for human input. This lowers the running cost to almost zero and ensures all guests are welcomed by a cosy environment on arrival.

On the exterior, a corrugated aluminium cladding was chosen to resist the corrosive salt in the air and to reflect the miner’s hut aesthetic, and the apertures in the home were selected specifically so that in all directions, you feel as if you’re in the bush.

“On the West Coast when it rains, it really pours, therefore the triangular skylights in the living space were placed so that you feel as if you’re in the elements. One of them is positioned to look out onto a large tree and the other one offers views of the crevice rock face above it.”

The layout itself is simple - the dwelling is only 45 sqm - but it feels spacious due to the raked ceiling in the living area. There are no doors to the bedroom, and only a surface-mounted slider to the bathroom and laundry.

“The laundry was an important addition to the amenities, because we figured the guests are going to be in a car or camper van, so if they're going to splash out on some accommodation like this, they're probably going to want to have some other facilities that they wouldn't have otherwise, like a washing machine and to be able to cook their own meals.”

As such, the small kitchen is fully equipped for guests, and features a dark, recessive colour palette that harmonises beautifully with the timber elements in the space. 

Coll was lucky enough to have the opportunity to use the dwelling several times before it was listed on AirBnb and can confirm that it’s a magical place to stay.

“Every time I've been there it's been absolutely bucketing down and it's the coolest building to be in. I  felt like we did achieve what we set out to do with it, because it very much has a sense of place.”

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