AWAAWAROA BAY
Cheshire Architects
ENGINEERING
TD Structures
DESIGN TEAM
Nat Cheshire, Sarah Gilbertson, Kate Walker
COUNTRY
New Zealand
COLLABORATORS
Interiors & Coverings (Canvas manufacturer and installer)
LANDSCAPE
Landscene Landscaping
MANUFACTURERS
Brightgreen, iGuzzini, Alround Sheetmetals, Aurora Aether, Brodware Yakato, Canvas Installer, Dave Harmes, Docril, Earthscape, Enviropaints, Forma, George + Willy, George Nelson, Jane Burn, Kip&Co, Lacanche, Lancer Aluminium, Landscene Landscaoping, Macrocarpa, Madder & Rouge, Metalcraft Espan, NZ Natural Timber Company, Natural House Company, Peter Edmonds, Plywood City, Ramma Construction, Ray Haydon, Reid Technology, Sally Gabori, Sikkens, Sophie Moran, Sullivan Plumbing & Gas, Thom switches, Timber Recycling, Tio stools, Wagner Sparky, Wilson & Dorset
The patrons of this home fell in love with this south-facing site and the idea of occupying it without formality and off grid.
We proposed an encampment: three small buildings embodying different parts of that occupation, clustered around a loose sun-drenched courtyard.
We hoped to celebrate the difference between inside and outside - and the reinforcing, occupying and eroding of the threshold between those states.
A chapel-like living room lined with fragrant old timber. A space perfect for two or twenty (and a couple of dogs).
Hunkered down on a windy evening around a fire on a sofa carved from the room itself.
A family meal at the outdoor bench, blurring the kitchen and courtyard into one.
Canvas cloaked sleeping spaces lined inside with timber and creaking gently like yachts.
Window frames big enough to shower in. A bunkroom which feels intimate but sleeps 10, each in their own nook.
The spaces are a family of related but not identical siblings. The detailing is pragmatic but restrained. Comprising a single gable and a couple of sheds, this little home was conceived carefully, built simply, and dressed informally.
We hoped this would be enough to slough away the memory of the city entirely.
