Huruhi

• PROJECT

  Huruhi

• LOCATION

  Waiheke Island, Auckland

• STATUS

  Completed

Huruhi is a home away from home for a young family, and at times their friends and extended family.  It is a long and gently kinked form that runs along the steep contours of the site from west to east.  A second building, a boatshed pavilion, sits lower on the site below the house providing a more intimate connection with the sea, that comes and goes during the change in tides leaving an ever-changing landscape. Space for a guesthouse is envisaged to the north, which if and when is built will reinforce the idea of “encampment” on the site.

The approach is from above, and so living roofs soften this elevation and conceal the buildings beneath. Winding pathways meander their way down to both the house and further to the boatshed below.

The underside of the green roof is an extruded scalloped form, which extends through the building from outside to in.  The vault shelters the living, dining and sleeping spaces while the up-kick extends ones eye up to the slopes behind through high-level bands of window.