No Comments »

A Glass Box on the Kapiti Coast

• Tweet

• Tweet

Geoff Fletcher Architects designed this simple modern New Zealand bach with the help of consulting engineers Dunning Thornton, whose credo is that structures must be affordable and not over designed. They specialize in buildings that can be easily and swiftly constructed without sacrificing structural integrity.

The beach house is a glass and cedar box designed to take in views and weather storms.

You can see the result in this cedar and glass beach house.

The clients wanted a small separate house for lapping up the great views and entertaining guests, in front of an existing cottage somewhat hidden behind a sand dune. To make sure the sun still reached the cottage behind, the sand dune in front was flattened and the new beach house nestled down as low and as far out to the property lines as possible.

A super slim timber ceiling and floor is achieved with timber technology reversing the support structure to hide support beams. At the ceiling and at the ground, the glass is minimally framed, creating the effect of a biscuit-slim roof and floor. Practical stainless steel in the kitchen counter and the folding glass doors echo the silvers of the views.

On the ocean side, a full sliding wall in weathered cedar screens the rich glare of the sun when necessary, while blending with the silvered whites and greys of the light bounced off the ocean, the sand and nearby flax plants.

The wood shutters chop up the glare of the setting sun, like filtered light in a forest glade, giving a feeling of retreat and safety in any weather.

Perhaps the most disarming element of the beach house is the completely roofless bathroom for showering off the day’s accumulation of sand and salty seawater. The Kapiti Coast is on the Western side of the North Island.

Via Arch Daily