The Round House was thoughtfully designed for the clients beautiful hilltop site and featured on a Grand Designs episode in November of 2023. The client, James wanted something completely different for his new home to showcase the expansive views of Kapiti Island and the coastline. With 12 sides - each providing at least one window to the outdoors – it can be difficult to understand how the interior works from the outside and where furniture would fit but once you’re inside, everything makes perfect sense.

Clad almost entirely in western red cedar, The Round House is distinctly homely. Its material palette is kept simple, using mostly vertical cedar cladding and black aluminium joinery, which also extends to the detached garage and front gate.

The entry porch is recessed, set back into the home and sheltered by a beautiful double-height ceiling featuring birch plywood with negative detailing.

The windows are enclosed by vertical cedar rain screens that run the height of the top floor — a subtle yet striking design element. And as you move indoors, the surrounding landscape reappears, framed by the home’s windows and large sliding doors.

The end result is a warm and inviting home, beautifully designed and executed. It sits perfectly on its gorgeously landscaped section (all work completed by the owner during the build) overlooking Kapiti and was a complete pleasure to build.

Credit to Frank House (frankhouse.co.nz) who built the open cassette panels for the house in their offsite manufacturing factory in Waikanae which enabled the structural elements to go up in two days. This saved a lot of time onsite and considerably reduced the construction waste.

"The Round House has been a thrilling build and I am so grateful to the team at Cameron Builders. The crew were all friendly and great to deal with, and Duane was level-headed and reassuring throughout the inevitable stressful situations that crop up during a build. It was great to be able to be as involved as I was in the project and the structuring of the contract and invoicing was simple, easy to understand and well itemised. Cameron Builders helped to produce a beautiful, unique build with high-quality finishing, and I couldn't be happier."

- James Davis