Castle Rock Beach House | Herbst Architects

Designed by Herbst Architects, A holiday house for primarily summer use with a boatshed /garage. Castle Rock Beach House will not be used as a permanent residence.

photography by © Patrick Reynolds

Concept:
This building is a continuation of our exploration in a genre of a building that is specifically designed for occupation in the summer months. In the design process, we attempt to challenge the boundaries between the built form and nature to heighten the experience of immersion in nature. We challenge also the accepted levels of comfort and utility for the same reason. We attempt also to reference the nostalgia surrounding the “Kiwi bach” by manipulating scale, form, relationships, materiality, and limitation of amenity.

photography by © Patrick Reynolds

Response:
Break the building into 2 primary components in order to reduce the scale and to allow the bach to follow the contour of the land.
Create a single cut in the knoll and retain it with a gabion wall, this sets up a spine around which the components can be ordered.
Separate the functions by a full level to allow a panoramic view from the living level and to step the house down towards the beach.
The living pavilion is articulated as a series of 4 spaces in a pinwheel arrangement; a kitchen, a lounge, and 2 covered decks. The kitchen aspects towards both the north and south deck depending on the prevailing wind conditions by manipulating a series of doors and shutters.
A stair drops to the lower level and penetrates the gabion wall, a covered outside walkway running along the gabion wall connects to the bedroom spaces.
The stair continues on axis with a powerful rock formation at the base of the slope to make the connection to the beach.
A black stained rain-screen cladding introduces a crenulated layering which peels open in part to allow views and privacy or wind screening.
Structural timbers are generally exposed and left without color embellishment.

photography by © Patrick Reynolds

Project Info:
Architects: Herbst Architects
Location: Whangarei Heads, New Zealand
Project Year: 2015
Photographs: Patrick Reynolds
Manufacturers: ATS Timber
Project Name: Castle Rock Beach House