RECAPTURE & RELAX

When architecture and nature finds a perfect union.

- Ar. Jayakrishnan Ranjit

It brings out an experience unparalleled. What more do we seek than to relax and capture the beautiful surroundings where our home sits. This residence poised on a ridgeline in New Zealand is a delicate balance of both structure and man. The Tutukaka House resonate and recapture the essence and integrity of the land it resides in.

Focusing on the view, which stretches from the sloping section on a ridgeline across to the Poor Knights Islands, was a priority for Lance and Nicky Herbst of Herbst Architects. The spiral staircase that leads from the parking deck to the main body of the home acts as a telephoto lens. It begins with a carport that has an agrarian feel, continues between two block walls that solidly channel the arrival, and on down along rain-screened walkways and across a glass-walled bridge that links to the heart of the home, set on a perpendicular plane. The Herbst’s see the kitchen, dining and living as a viewing platform. A blurring of boundaries with substantial sliding windows that open one half to the elements and structural ledges, become casual seats that float above the land.