Whareroa

The lakeside settlement of Whareroa, tucked into the western edge of Taupō, is the sort of place people find by accident and instantly start daydreaming about returning to. North-facing, elevated and sheltered, with crystalline water that reveals the lake bed below, it’s an idyllic backdrop for a family bach. For the owners, Mount Maunganui locals who’ve long used this spot as their summer base, the dream was to enlarge their tiny holiday home on the lakefront for a growing family, without losing the charm that made the original bach so treasured. For architectural designer Adam Taylor of ata, honouring the character of the Whareroa settlement was key to the success of the design. “Whareroa isn’t a place of showy architecture or oversized builds, and the owners were conscious of retaining the easygoing, unpretentious character of the settlement,” he shares. “We wanted try to create an environment that is different to where they live, that puts them at ease and where they don’t have to feel precious about things.” It was also important to have space for their outdoor activities and equipment: tieing flyrods, washing down dirt bikes, and fileting fish. With teenage children in tow, holidays increasingly also involved friends, partners and tag-alongs, and although the original bach was filled with layers of character, it had begun to feel tight. Retaining that original layered feeling while expanding the footprint was key to creating a home that functions and sits well in its context. This brief guided both material decisions and spatial planning, with the home’s form presenting the first challenge. The programme was substantial (multiple bedrooms, bathrooms, storage areas, living and bunk spaces) yet the house needed to remain modest in scale. “I was conscious that it had potential with that amount of floor area to come across as a big building, and we didn’t want it to look like a big building,” shaes Adam. To avoid the home reading as bulky, it was broken down into a series of smaller forms: a cluster of volumes that read almost like individual huts connected beneath a single roof plane that gently follows the contour of the land. The exterior materiality follows this ethos of understatedness. Inspired by DOC huts and traditional bach materials, the team sourced locally milled redwood, drawn to its grain, knots and natural variation. “We quite like the fact that it’s New Zealand-grown, it’s locally milled and they do everything themselves, and it looks really good.” The timber brings warmth and texture, while careful slat detailing around the entry brings light into the space. A covered outdoor bridge between garage and house acts as a practical decanting zone for gear: still damp wetsuits, fishing rods, bikes and boating paraphernalia. Then, there’s a bathroom-laundry combo designed for sandy feet and dripping towels. These details cumulatively reference the rhythms of campground living. “The traditional Kiwi beach holiday has so many positive emotional triggers, and for these utlitiy spaces we’ve made a very subtle reference to those common facilities that you use at a campground,” Taylor says. Layout decisions were driven by the owners’ desire to maintain the familiar flow between the living spaces and the driveway where boats arrive, fish are filleted, and discussions about dinner are decided. As a result, the living room sits on the easterly side of the plan, along with the master suite and a second bedroom. Tucked behind the living spaces and connected to the cluster of outdoor service spaces, the second bedroom wing contains a mix of ensuited rooms, and bunkrooms for kids and future grandchildren. Gardens are brought right into the centre of the plan between these wings, breaking up the exterior mass and ushering westerly light into the centre of the home. Internally, the palette is deliberately unpolished. The owners didn’t want anything ostentatious, and ata leaned into materials that feel honest and functional. Triboard wall linings, chosen for their durability and large scale format, give the spaces a relaxed rhythm. Cork floors bring tactile character and a forgiving surface, while plywood cabinetry reinforces the bach-like feel. The layering of materials is intentional, echoing the way traditional baches collect mismatched elements over decades. “Layers happen through time and most old baches have those—mismatched lights, parts that have been repainted or replaced—and that’s what their last place had,” shares Adam. “It feels less clinical and more human to have those layers, so we tried everything we could with the new build to encourage that feeling.” For Taylor, the succes of this design lies not in any single feature but in how the house feels and behaves as a lived-in holiday base: a place that’s robust, unpretentious and built for the specific lifestyle of its occupants. “My favourite part is that I wanted it to look more like a cluster of spaces that are unpretentiously cobbled together versus a big individual house, and as you walk around it, you definitely get that impression.” Words: Jo Seton Our clients owned a much-loved bach in Whareroa, at the southern end of Lake Taupō — a place that slows life down while offering easy access to passions like trail riding and fly fishing. Perched high above the village, the site commands sweeping views north across the lake and dramatic vistas to the hills beyond. The existing dwelling, though cherished, belonged to a time when draughts and cold were tolerated, and it struggled to accommodate the larger gatherings they envisioned. The next chapter meant room for teenage children and their friends, as well as space to host guests with comfort and privacy. The brief was to preserve the bach’s intimacy and humble spirit while creating compact, purposeful spaces in a design that felt simple, site-sensitive, and true to the character of Whareroa.