This issue is all about taking time out; it’s a celebration of life outdoors, and the spaces and places that enhance connection with our natural environment.

We visit some incredible homes in locations that are equally striking. In an ancient pohutukawa grove in Piha, we explore a home and studio with two distinct personalities: the extrovert, a glass pavilion high above the canopy looking out towards the sea, and the introvert, an intimate space nestled below the boughs.

Near the Catlins coast in one of the country’s most remote locations, we visit a modernist concrete home that appears as if dropped from above; a rocky outcrop in a boulder-strewn landscape. 

On the cover is Ridge Retreat, a holiday home on a tiny island. It’s a simple place, inspired by a house designed by Lillian Chrystall in the 1970s, and highly attuned to its coastal environs. It’s a place that celebrates the here and now. 

In Remuera, we explore what could just be New Zealand’s best renovation — an expansive project that saw a 1916 arts and crafts home modernised in the spirit of its heritage.

Plus, we explore a little cabin in Canterbury’s high country that is cut from the cloth of the traditional A-frame and woven with a decidedly modern spin of colour and texture; chat with two Wellington architects who are exploring the concept of ‘sensitive density’; head to Abel Tasman, where we visit a project of crisp proportions in a pristine little bay; and much more.