On the shores of a secluded, sandy cove in Northland, this holiday home was devised to slowly recess into its natural surroundings.
Between Woolleys Bay and Whale Bay, Staffa Bay is a little known coastal enclave where just a handful
of holiday homes are scattered along the coast. It’s here in this pristine Northland environment that architect Grant Harris of HB Architecture designed a second home for his Auckland-based clients.
“There’s all sorts of levels of responsibility with a site like this. First and foremost, our commitment is to our clients, followed closely by a commitment to fitting into a fantastic coastal environment, and doing it respectfully — respecting the natural place, and the neighbours. It’s about being mindful of where we are and what we’re doing so we enhance it rather than contract from it,” Grant explains.
He’s no stranger to designing in this area, with numerous other projects under his belt further up the coast at Matapouri, so from the start a material palette was chosen that was sympathetic to the natural surroundings.
“The site has a fantastic bush backdrop with pōhutukawa. Creating a connection with that became the driver for the decision to use natural timber that would eventually weather off to similar colours.”
Grant specified Dryden WoodOil in Clear to finish the cedar: “The obvious thing for us using the combination of Dryden WoodOil on cedar is that it was certainly tested on other houses we did slightly further along the beach, which came up beautifully in the exposed location. The timber just weathers off and develops this lovely soft greyish colour, and we knew the same would happen here in Staffa Bay. There’s a degree of confidence using a product that performs.
“The Clear WoodOil allows the timber to show through so it becomes the feature, rather than the finish, which is what we wanted to achieve here.” Now, after a time settling into its site, the house, as Grant puts it, “is starting to pick up the natural colours of the hillside, particularly when you look at the main bedroom sitting up over the top of the house. That has really nestled back into the bush. It’s starting to feel like a real little treehouse sitting up there.”
Dryden WoodOil is a non-filming timber protector. Available in various colours, it prevents the absorption of water and reduces cupping and warping. If applied in Clear, as it has been in this project, it allows timbers to silver and weather naturally while maintaining water repellency.
