ANCHORED TO THE SITE

Despite New Zealand's expanse of coastline, there are few beach sections as spectacular as the one featured on these pages. Where building is permitted on our beachfronts, an assortment of houses quickly springs up on the prime spots.

What makes this section on Great Barrier Island so different is that the house is the only one on the beach. Architect David Mitchell says there was a basic decision to be made at the start of the design process.

"There are two ways to respond to a site like this: make the building inconspicuous, or build a strong object in the landscape," he says.

The first approach would have produced a building lying low in the sand dunes. The alternative was a strongly upright building that was more visible.

Mitchell says both responses are legitimate, and that he has no particular preference. For the Great Barrier Island site, he and the client decided on the more visible approach.

The resulting two-storey house is laid out on a symmetrical plan in response to the two clear axes on the site, one running from the sea to the land, the other along the beach.

"Formal geometries anchor a building like this to the site it's a fairly traditional response," says Mitchell.

The building also needed to be secured from the environment, especially strong northeasterly winds blowing onto the beach. Setting the house back from the beach gives some protection from the full force of a gale.

As the wind hits the sand dunes it creates suction on the roof. Curved steel trusses between the outer tin and the inner ceiling hold down the roof. The trusses are secured by small steel posts at intervals round the glass perimeter.

As a result, the roof seems to float above the walls. Inside, there are continuous sky views and, at certain points, a view of the horizon sits neatly in the glass slit. The wings of the roof provide shade and help to keep the interior cool, even on sunny days.

Story by: Trendsideas