A Dramatic Clifftop Home Blends Architecture and Nature Seamlessly

Описание: Perched on a cliff in Auckland’s Herne Bay, an expansive retreat for gathering, sharing, and celebrating sought to be both bold and unassuming.

It's the product of a fruitful collaboration between Masonry Design Solutions, interior designer Becks Silke of Franc Atelier, and Henry Dunham of Henry Dunham Building. Conceived for a family of six with a deep connection to the ocean — whose idea of home includes large gatherings, layered spaces, and a material language drawn from the land and the sea — it is a place of subtlety and spectacle in turn.

“When the clients came to me, they had a very clear idea of what they wanted to achieve — they had come across a home in Orakei they wanted this design modelled on; they had scribbles and sketches and floor-plans, so, from the beginning, it was about working with this brief to ensure we could make the most of a very challenging site with limited access and a tight building envelope,” architectural designer Mark Wilson explains.

Strict height-to-boundary ratios meant one of the levels had to be completely below ground, and the pitched roof the clients sought had to be tapered back to allow for the two above-ground levels. There were also mature pōhutukawa on-site to work around, and the need for significant piling to support the structure. An early vision was for the pool to appear as if cantilevered over the edge of the cliff.

“All of these elements meant we had to really think outside the box and get creative … it’s the sort of situation that often ends up with the best outcomes because there are no straightforward solutions,” Mark says.

For builder Henry Dunham and his team, it was the most complex parts of the build that came first. “The entire northern boundary and peninsula is a cliff edge and we were required to install over 100 piles, an average 16 metres long, to support the home. The pool end, the pool weir, and the entire entertaining platform around it are cantilevered off the cliff so the concrete structure not only needed to support the load but would also be seen from the pool platform. What would usually just be a buried concrete structure was formed to an incredibly high standard, suitable for viewing.

“Due to the limited access, the first structure we built was the pool with its cantilevered support structure below. It was not until we had completed the basement [which incorporates a gym, sauna, cinema, wine cellar, and games room] and started the ground floor that we were able to marry the two huge concrete structures together — 18 months later,” Henry explains.

From the very beginning, this was a project that grew with collaboration. “The clients were very detail oriented when it came to the finished product, which was one of the most enjoyable things for me about this project. Every idea they had during the build was fleshed out on-site — we sketched details on ply or walls, ensuring every element was crafted and finished flawlessly.”

The form that evolved is bold, but pared back. Monolithic limestone cladding was selected, but, rather than being laid uniformly, it was used in random heights to create a rhythmic sense of texture and depth. “We’ve softened this with pop-outs of cedar to warm it up a bit — with its size, that was an important part of ensuring the form wasn’t visually overpowering in its setting,” Mark says.

In total, the house covers a footprint just shy of 1200 square metres — a scale that required significant creative intervention to soften and create intimate moments of character and connection.

Architecture: Masonry Design Solutions
Build: Henry Dunham Building
Interiors: Franc Atelier