Rawhiti Bach
By Studio Pacific Architecture
To accommodate the next generation of their family, the clients wanted to replace their much-loved bach with one that would embrace the culture evolved over decades, would cater for any group, from an intimate couple to a large celebratory crowd, and importantly become an heirloom for the next generation.
The main building provides the primary gathering spaces, main bedroom, informal ‘loft’ space, and a boat store. Together these contain a trace of the spatial arrangements of the previous bach, leading to a form designed as an assemblage of objects, with intended misalignments, slippages and quirks. It launches out of the ground, projecting out to near and distant views.
The sleepout takes its lead from the site’s geographical qualities and, as a counterpoint to the main building, hunkers down into the hillside. It provides bedrooms that offer a retreat from the communal bustle of the main building. Shutters create a dynamic façade providing occupants with control over privacy and views to the landscape beyond.
The buildings have been designed to be long lasting, be grounded in the site, engage with the landscape, reinforce the sense of place, and sculpt light and views. And ultimately, the design looks to reinforce and provide for a multiplicity of ways to come together, and share time and memories.
Photography: Simon Devitt.
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Shaping Our Pacific Future – We are a cross-disciplinary architecture, interior, landscape and urban design practice shaping a more sustainable and people-centric built environment across the buildings, neighbourhoods, cities, and landscapes of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Studio Pacific was established in 1992 by friends and colleagues Evžen Novák, Nick Barratt-Boyes, and Stephen McDougall. After working in the UK and Europe, the three architects were drawn back home by a shared desire to form a collaborative and innovative practice in Te Whanganui-a-Tara – Wellington.
They opened an architecture studio ‘of the Pacific’, applying their creativity to projects that engaged with, and elevated, context and culture. Over the years, this has grown into a compelling manifesto to shape our collective Pacific future, where people and the planet are at the heart of our built environment.
Today, we are a team of around 100 – including architects, urban designers, landscape architects, interior designers and business professionals. We bring diversity in thinking and design, and a democratic culture ensures clever ideas come from all corners of the practice, not necessarily from those who have been here the longest.
Open-minded, collaborative and creative, our practice has evolved into a leading and award-winning business, working on a wide range of exciting projects that seek to make Aotearoa New Zealand a better place.