| 87 Sarah likens the living pavilion to a chapel, tall and small, with its roof rising in a steeple-like manner to the central ridge. Photo: Jackie Meiring Photography ARCHITECTURE Cheshire Architects Views across vineyards Virginia Wright At the end of Waiheke Island furthest away from where the ferry arrives from Auckland City, there is a remote, off-grid, south-facing piece of undulating land with views across vineyards and olive groves to Awaawaroa Bay and beyond to the Hauraki gulf. It immediately caught the eye, and then the hearts, of the Auckland couple who purchased it. They set themselves up with a container, an outside bathroom and a barbeque, and they loved everything about this informal arrangement. When it came time to build something permanent, they wanted to keep the feeling of simplicity, the sense of living in and on the land, the lack of formality, and the feeling of peace that comes with living off-grid. “It was a challenging site with a picturesque, framed view to the south and steep hills to the north. The hills offer shelter but also mean you lose the sun early,” explains Sarah Gilbertson of Cheshire Architects. “Our clients had seen the studios ‘Eyrie” project, which was two small cabins, simple and minimal, and this became the nucleus of the brief for Awaawaroa Bay,” Cheshire Architects embraced this approach and proposed an encampment, loosely arranging three small buildings around a north-facing, sun-drenched courtyard. ”There is a living pavilion, a master bedroom pavillion and a guest pavilion, and when you move between them you are outside in the open air, exposed to the weather and the landscape around you,” says Sarah. “Each of the buildings are distinct and unique, and they enhance and celebrate different aspects of the site. We were exploring the tension between exposure and retreat, fluid and still, fragile and firm, smallness and generosity, and these ideas reveal themselves info@tacticalroofing.co.nz www.tacticalroofing.co.nz Josh • 022 454 4440 Glen • 022 645 0775 TacticalRoofing2018 Proudly supporting Cheshire Architects at Awaawaroa Bay Residential & Commercial ∙ Roofing Repair ∙ New Roofs & Re-roofing ∙ Long Run & Spouting Perfectly balancing handcraft & technology to create bespoke fabric art www.inc.co.nz (+64) 09 534 4859 sales@inc.co.nz fb.com/inc.co.nz InteriorsAndCoveringsLtd We have been based at the Half Moon Bay Marina for over 30 years. The INC team thrive on challenges, deliver world class results and push the industry standards. Perfection has to do with the end product, but excellence has to do with the process. in the form of the buildings, the material selections and in the articulation of the details.” The architects also talk about “amplifying the conditions of threshold” or intensifying the experience of being at the edge of the buildings. For example the doors of the master bedroom shower can completely open so you have the experience of showering in a windowsill which is exaggerated in size. Furthermore, the windowsill in the bedroom is more like a small terrace than a ledge, becoming a space that you can sit within. Sarah likens the living pavilion to a chapel, tall and small, with its roof rising in a steeple-like manner to the central ridge. The building is deceptively simple to look at, but the devil is in the carefully detailed construction. On the exterior, the architects used what they call the Canterbury Prickle detail which allows expanses of grey-green cladding to wrap the external walls and roof in a way that’s designed to look “almost like a tent-fly”. Carrying the lichen Colorsteel across the walls and windows adds to the tent-fly illusion. Fine battens of recycled oregon timber are used on the gable-end facades and this carries through the interior, transforming the space into a timber-scented cocoon. The use of Colorsteel Espan at Awaawaroa Bay has earned Cheshire Architects a place as a finalist in the 2021 Colorsteel Awards for Residential Building of the Year. As a result of the pandemic, the awards ceremony has not yet taken place, but winners will be announced in March this year. Most importantly for Sarah, the owners, who were heavily involved in the realisation of the project, deeply love their home, and two years later they are still relishing their informal, off-grid set-up.
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