Houzz Tour: Seaside Cabins Blend Into the Landscape
New Zealand guest quarters are designed to merge with their Bay of Islands setting
This extended family has vacationed for the last 30 years on a former farm in a seaside valley in New Zealand’s Bay of Islands. With established native trees — notably the spreading pohutukawa, which flowers red in the height of summer, and the grand puriri tree — the site was pretty special. However, the family was outgrowing the original house.
Discussions began in 2007 between the family and architect Noel Lane to slip two cabins into the hillside, away from the main house and some 65 feet from the beach. In 2016, the cabins were finished and finally ready for occupancy. Here you can see the result of several years of careful planning and hard work in structures that maintain a strong sense of the area’s natural aesthetic.
Discussions began in 2007 between the family and architect Noel Lane to slip two cabins into the hillside, away from the main house and some 65 feet from the beach. In 2016, the cabins were finished and finally ready for occupancy. Here you can see the result of several years of careful planning and hard work in structures that maintain a strong sense of the area’s natural aesthetic.
The family wanted a visually strong design, so the architects came up with a simple, rigorously pared-back structure. The setting prompted them to look to boat cabins for the detailing.
“They needed to be visually strong, but we wanted a dissolving structure,” Rowe says. “It had to be rigorous, with detailing deliberately showing, like the cabin of a boat.”
When the cedar clapboard siding silvers over time, the semitransparent buildings will disappear even more.
“They needed to be visually strong, but we wanted a dissolving structure,” Rowe says. “It had to be rigorous, with detailing deliberately showing, like the cabin of a boat.”
When the cedar clapboard siding silvers over time, the semitransparent buildings will disappear even more.
With their simple gable roofs and glass walls, the cabins feel generous without being extravagant. A glass-roof veranda in front, a glass roof over the bathroom at the back and a part-height wall dividing the space allow light to flow through each building, making them appear bigger than they are and connecting them to the bush.
American oak flooring: Just Hardwood Floors
American oak flooring: Just Hardwood Floors
Rafters were left exposed from front to back, starting with those under the glass roof of the veranda and continuing through the interior section of solid roof, to re-emerge in the glass roof above the bathroom and rear entry. Glass walls slide away, with louvers on both sides to allow for cross ventilation.
“We wanted some things expressed, others concealed,” Rowe says.
“We wanted some things expressed, others concealed,” Rowe says.
Rowe specified a grooved plywood to line the walls and ceiling, choosing a rough band-sawn texture for the ceiling, and smoother for the walls and woodwork. The material was finished so that it will stay pale and not yellow with age.
Elite line grooved plywood: Plytech
Elite line grooved plywood: Plytech
While some parts of the building were left exposed, others (steel portals, insulation) were concealed. Tonka, a durable South American hardwood, was used around the steel, part of the desired “refined rustic aesthetic with deliberate constructivist logic,” as Rowe says. The floating walls mean that each cabin reads as one volume, to make it feel like a bigger space.
Rowe designed the cabinets to house wardrobes, as well as a small fridge and a place to make coffee. This allows the cabins to be complete retreats away from the bustle of the main house.
Rowe designed the cabinets to house wardrobes, as well as a small fridge and a place to make coffee. This allows the cabins to be complete retreats away from the bustle of the main house.
The sky is visible through the bathroom’s glass roof. Rowe also added a slatted privacy wall to an outdoor shower at the rear so that users can see the bush and feel an increased connection to the landscape. The flooring is a wide-plank American oak, with a touch of luxury injected in the travertine marble and limestone floors and walls.
Honed Roman travertine: Italian Stone; bathroom fixtures: Metrix; exterior Illumax LED lights: Light.co.nz
Honed Roman travertine: Italian Stone; bathroom fixtures: Metrix; exterior Illumax LED lights: Light.co.nz
After their first summer of use, the cabins have had only one drawback, according to the architect: causing fights between visitors jostling to sleep in them. They have achieved their owners’ dream: They’re a place to take in spectacular sunsets, fish right off the beach and be immersed in the bush the family has spent decades revegetating. Plans are now underway to renovate the existing farmhouse to match.
Tell us: What does your dream cabin by the sea look like? Share your ideas and pictures in the Comments below.
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Tell us: What does your dream cabin by the sea look like? Share your ideas and pictures in the Comments below.
Browse more homes by style: Apartments | Barn Homes | Colorful Homes | Contemporary Homes | Eclectic Homes | Farmhouses | Floating Homes | Guesthouses | Homes Around the World | Lofts | Midcentury Homes | Modern Homes | Ranch Homes | Small Homes | Townhouses | Traditional Homes | Transitional Homes | Vacation Homes
Location: Bay of Islands, Northland, New Zealand
Size: 646 square feet (60 square meters) each, including a bedroom and bathroom
Designer: Noel Lane with Tom Rowe of Rowe Baetens Architecture
The pair of cabins (you can just see the roof of the second one at the top left) face northwest for optimum sun. They were positioned to take advantage of the coastal view, concealed from each other but immersed in the native bush. The family spent many years regenerating the bush and wanted the buildings to sit lightly in their setting. A shell path wends through the trees from the main house, enhancing the sense of retreat.
Cedar clapboard siding and pergolas: Rosenfeld Kidson; aluminum: Architectural Profiles