Maison sur les dunes

Localisation : Te Arai beach (Mangawhai, Nouvelle-Zélande)
Programme : Construction d’une maison secondaire.
Collaborateur architecte : Axel Aucouturier. Architecte mandataire : Patterson Associates
Surface : 260 m2

This holiday house is a highly crafted, beautifully detailed, sleek machine for uncomplicated living.

The curvature of the dunes conceals most of the lower half of the house from the road. The linearity of the corrugated roof form glints slightly like some mysterious flying object that has landed firmly on the shore.

The walking path to the house is not immediately obvious, and the tussock-like grasses give this sand-covered site an even more surreal personality.

On plan, the house is as simple as it gets: a long rectangle running north to south, with extensive glazing to the east to make the most of the ocean views. The two bedrooms occupy opposite ends and have a bathroom each, a little den or study adjacent, and a mixture of robes or laundry. The centre of this elongated form is left nearly empty — an open-plan dining and living space that, when the sliding doors east and west have been thrown open, doubles as a stunning visual corridor to the links, the sea, and Little Barrier Island.