Accent On Outdoor Living
Pataua Development in Whangarei, located on a large rural site. The clients, who are based overseas, requested that we create a master plan for a large rural site in the Pataua Development, Whangarei. A vision that could be brought to life in stages. The site consists of two key developments. At the road side, on the flat, the summer house and boat shed structures alongside the tennis court. Higher up, at the back of the site, the new house has been designed with a master bedroom wing, a living wing and a bedroom wing, stretching across the site to maximise the views of the surrounding valley and ocean. A retained courtyard to the rear of the house creates an ideal entertaining area, capturing the afternoon sun. The house is clad in a mixture of dark stained grooved ply and dark vertical profiled metal cladding.
The clients wanted this home to be the complete package, a place to relax with friends and family and to make the most of the stunning landscape and natural playground.
The summer house acts as a pavilion for entertaining and a shady place for the spectators of tennis matches. It also functions beautifully as a generous guest suite, incorporating a kitchen and bathroom. The boat shed alongside has ample storage for the boat and other outdoor toys.
From the road the developments are sleek and unobtrusive, cut close into the slope to achieve a minimal disturbance on the horizon, and coloured a dark charcoal to recede further into the landscape. The vertical profile of the cladding adds texture into the architecture and is an attractive foil to the long horizontal aspect.
Design features/ Creative Solutions
A key part of the design was maximising the views out to the eastern and northern valleys from all rooms of the house including the outdoor spaces. This was achieved through stretching the house across the hill on the highest part of the site. The house was designed with a low sleek form facing out to the east and is benched into the slope to create a sheltered courtyard to the west off the living to capture the afternoon sun.
The house has been designed with distinct master bedroom wing separated by covered outdoor room and narrow hallway that link it to the living pod. The living area is separated by a further hallway that leads back to the north-western bedroom wing. This wing is stepping back to open up the living and deck to the northern sun. The curved northern deck was shaped to reflect the owner’s interest in surfing. This deck wraps around the eastern side of the house and links to the outdoor covered room.
These spaces provide a range of entertaining or relaxing areas, allowing the option to seek or retreat from the sun and enjoy the varied views.
Due to the narrow depth of the design this enables the owners to also capture the view through the house when entertaining in the sheltered western courtyard. This is further enhanced by extensive glazing on both sides of the living pod and walkway to master bedroom pod. This glazing to the rear courtyard opens up to allow the afternoon sun to reach the living areas and also the covered east facing outdoor room that has an expansive view of the ocean.