At the end of a shingle road deep in the Muriwai Valley on Auckland’s rugged West Coast is a place of dreamlike tranquillity. Here, Adam Mercer and Alastair Mckenzie envisioned a home that would cascade down from a ridgeline, culminating in a living space at the centre of a natural amphitheatre surrounded by native trees.
“We were presented with a beautifully manicured lawn sloping gently to the east. Through the amphitheatre of native trees were mist-laden valley views. The idea was for the building to be humble and recessive; to showcase all that we love about rural New Zealand — it would be humble yet strong, understated but luxurious, casual sophistication at its best,” explains architect Adam Mercer, of Mercer & Mercer.
The joy here is the surroundings, and, as such, the home was designed to sit gently; a speculative part of nature at its best. There is no ‘wow’ moment to the exterior — that lies within.
This is a place of some constraints, with north-westerly winds from the Tasman Sea accelerating as they move up the ridgeline and hitting the top of this property with ferocity. It was a problem the owners specifically asked Adam to deal with.
His response was creative and simply joyful.
“Everyone who visits a house in the country arrives by car. The journey through rural land is one of wide or starlit skies, so when you arrive you don’t necessarily want that expanse to fall away.
“Our early sketches were awarded the tick of approval purely on the basis of: ‘Well, that certainly takes care of the wind problem’.
A series of courtyards was proposed, for cars, then for people, to grade away the wind and driven rain before crossing the threshold. With the elements at bay, we turned our attention to the slow reveal.
A broken plan with separate wings on several levels was used to articulate a large floor area, creating a series of delightful rooms all served by generous, artful gallery spaces.”
A large car courtyard gives way to a slightly more sheltered entry courtyard accessed via a wooden pivot door, which in turn leads to the front door, where visitors are protected from the weather before stepping inside.
The home was designed for a retired couple with a large family of two generations, the idea being that it would become a much loved place to visit.
“It’s something we’re seeing more often: the older generation building quite large houses somewhere special, with the family in mind; yet [the houses] are really designed for two.”
This house incorporates the primary bedroom suite at the centre of the house adjacent to the kitchen and living area, while three guest suites and a bunk-room are housed in a separate wing, allowing only parts of the house to be used when guests aren’t visiting.
Step inside and the journey to the heart of the house is significant, as it meanders down the sloping site surrounded by 20 acres of former paddock and bush.
“The idea was for the house to tumble down, to cascade down a long, generous gallery to get to the centrepiece: the kitchen/living/dining area.
You walk down through the house in the same way you used to walk down the lawn; it’s something we’re very proud of,” Adam explains.
The magic of this sequence is in its corners. From the front door, you can choose to go to the guest suites, the garage, or down to the living area, via galleries (not hallways).
These galleries are home to a significant art collection, which Adam describes as “really challenging for the senses, in colour, form, and messaging, which is great.
There are little groups of steps in twos and threes as you meander down; elbows in the plan mean you’re always wondering what’s next while surrounded by art to one side and glazing to the other.
Arrive in the kitchen/living area and the house suddenly makes sense. It’s here that the moment of revelation exists; complete immersion in the site and its natural features.
To the east of the kitchen is a morning sun terrace; to the north-west, a covered terrace is the place for entertaining — this space anchored by an open fire. Beyond, the trees dominate the view, creating a sense of both
intimacy and expanse.
The firewall here is painted a rich, deep charcoal tone; this, combined with a glass roof above, means the structure all but disappears at night, leaving just the roaring fire and the starlit sky — “like a black hole, except during the day the wall colour has a lovely richness to it”.
The native trees are uplit, extending the perimeter under the cover of darkness. Another glass roof draws light into the kitchen and dining area, which is separated from a sitting room by a double-sided internal wall housing a fire and bookshelves.
The sitting room incorporates floor-to-ceiling glass on three sides. “In the morning, you have the light through the trees; at night, you’re sitting in a glass box with the fire.
It’s wonderful to have no privacy concerns, so the function becomes simply a place to enjoy the stars and the trees. There’s just a pane of glass between you and nature,” Adam tells us.
Much of Adam’s work has been influenced by mid-century modern design principles, often finding favour in the contemporary New Zealand farmhouse.
While this one captures the very essence of the site and setting, he points out that it is subtly different.
“Often, we don’t see such luxurious furnishings; here, you have this collection of incredible pieces in a clearing in the bush — there’s something quite special about that.
“Overall, we were searching for the modern farmhouse aesthetic. Humble, honest, builderly materials with texture and character, arranged in a clean modern way. The result is a clean, simple, modern arrangement of spaces with rich and diverse interiors that capture the rural magic of the site, tied together with a familiar consistent detailing, to celebrate our clients’ generous attitude to extended family living.”
The furniture and soft furnishings are the work of Trinity Interior Design. Interior designer Kate Paterson describes the project as being highly influenced by the site and the native bush surroundings.
“The palette and textures of the interior furnishings were chosen to reflect the clients’ passion for the arts and design, and are a mix of their old cherished furniture, which we either reupholstered or refinished, and new pieces that are a mix of locally made and European designs,” Kate explains.
“The clients’ extensive, colourful, and energetic collection of art also influenced the fabrics, rugs, and designs we curated.”
Aside from the furnishings, the house offers a variety of challenging and interesting moments.
The exterior cedar is painted in Resene Double Tapa, a caramel/coffee-coloured grey tone, designed to fall away into the setting. “It’s designed so you don’t notice it,” Adam says. “It is solid and beautifully built by Sam Hayes.”
“A common response from architects who have visited the house is: ‘How refreshing is it to do a house that is kind of normal but so not at the same time’.”
It’s an interesting proposition: a careful balancing of normality and creativity; of luxury and practicality.
“There was no intended wow factor in the form. It just morphs in and around itself — a roof hovering over a variety of floor levels; a building that sits in a beautiful clearing without dominating it in any way.”
This is a place beautifully defined by its setting and the spaces within.
