The Summer House.

This holiday home sits on a large block with a gentle southern slope and with magnificent views back to Auckland city across the Hauraki Gulf. The existing flat building platform is divided into two areas by the placement of a single level pavilion which houses a main bedroom suite, along with the living rooms of the house. This pavilion is deliberately transparent from East to West to facilitate the relaxed use of the level lawn areas, as well as creating a buffer for both the Easterly and Westerly winds.

The roofscape is a subtle mono-pitch falling to an off centre low point over the bathroom area, and increasing in height and therefore volume over the winter lounge.

The bedrooms are all positioned in line in another pavilion, which runs perpendicular to the first and is connected by an enclosed breezeway which leads down to the garage and platform on the lower level. The bedroom pavilion is a simple rectangular unobtrusive box shape, with openings to the southern view and doors to the northern lawn areas.
The lower level of the building has solid stone walls and plastered concrete block anchoring the building to its context, while the upper levels, which relate directly to the outdoor living spaces, are clad in a mix of plywood with vertical and horizontal battens. These create both depth and modulated articulation of the facades and are stained in a very dark ebony brown. The deep colours allow the building to hide amongst the Pohutukawas in a very recessive manner.

Outdoor covered areas extend the building footprint into the site and create further articulation of the private and public zones.

Landscaping is minimal so as not to detract from the dominant Pohutukawas which surround the building platform beautifully.