Discover this spectacular beach-front cabin in New Zealand - Grand Designs Magazine

Discover this spectacular beach-front cabin in New Zealand

With breathtaking views and a minimalist design, this beach-front cabin in New Zealand is a special project.

By Becca Green |

Designed in collaboration with artist and surfer Dean Poole, this weekend home is hidden in the native forest of the Waitakere Ranges.

beachfrontnewzealand - discover this spectacular beach-front cabin in New Zealand - self build homes - granddesignsmagazine.com

Image: Simon Devitt

This compact beach-front cabin, designed by Stevens Lawson Architects, was born out of Dean Poole’s desire to connect with the natural landscape and to provide his family with an authentic New Zealand experience.

Creating a weekend escape for his family, he’s created at once comfortable, but that opens almost seamlessly onto the scenic bush and rugged black sand beaches.

Plywood kitchen design

wood kitchen design - discover this spectacular beach-front cabin in New Zealand - self build homes - granddesignsmagazine.com

Image: Simon Devitt

The entire lower level is devoted to an open-plan kitchen, living and dining space in which the family can enjoy spending time together while looking out of the floor-to-ceiling windows to the expansive native bush below.

Dean wanted the kitchen to act as a workshop, with products that facilitated the needs of everyday life and no more, exemplifying an ‘enough is enough’ design ethos.

The plywood-lined living space has black detailing, from the kitchen island’s worktop to the Fisher & Paykel built-in oven, providing dimension while allowing the natural grain of the wood to take centre stage.

Designed in collaboration with artist and surfer Dean Poole, this weekend home is hidden in the native forest of the Waitakere Ranges.

beachfrontnewzealand - discover this spectacular beach-front cabin in New Zealand - self build homes - granddesignsmagazine.com

Image: Simon Devitt

This compact beach-front cabin, designed by Stevens Lawson Architects, was born out of Dean Poole’s desire to connect with the natural landscape and to provide his family with an authentic New Zealand experience.

Creating a weekend escape for his family, he’s created at once comfortable, but that opens almost seamlessly onto the scenic bush and rugged black sand beaches.

Plywood kitchen design

wood kitchen design - discover this spectacular beach-front cabin in New Zealand - self build homes - granddesignsmagazine.com

Image: Simon Devitt

The entire lower level is devoted to an open-plan kitchen, living and dining space in which the family can enjoy spending time together while looking out of the floor-to-ceiling windows to the expansive native bush below.

Dean wanted the kitchen to act as a workshop, with products that facilitated the needs of everyday life and no more, exemplifying an ‘enough is enough’ design ethos.

The plywood-lined living space has black detailing, from the kitchen island’s worktop to the Fisher & Paykel built-in oven, providing dimension while allowing the natural grain of the wood to take centre stage.

Image: Simon Devitt

Breathtaking views

The living space opens up on to a peaceful decking area that boasts beautiful views of both the forest and the beach. Dean wanted to make sure the cabin complemented and felt at one with its surroundings, rather than jarring against it.

A stairway zig-zagging through the dense forest, provides the only access to the home, helping it to feel grounded in the landscape.

Read more: 4 beautiful, isolated self-build homes from around the world

Laidback style

bathroom cabin newzealand - discover this spectacular beach-front cabin in New Zealand - self build homes - granddesignsmagazine.com

Image: Simon Devitt

The interiors of the property blur the boundaries of luxury design and humble style. The bathroom, with its green tiled walls reflecting the natural landscape outside of the window, features a bathtub and freestanding washbasin from Agape’s Vieque range – a design that seems to play on the look of a metal drum barrel, but is made from luxe materials.

Minimalist spaces

minimalist bedroom - discover this spectacular beach-front cabin in New Zealand - self build homes - granddesignsmagazine.com

Image: Simon Devitt

As a weekend escape, the rooms are afforded a minimalism that may be difficult in the everyday family home. Like the kitchen, the bedroom space features exposed ply cladding for the internal walls, matched with plywood furniture which. The choice of furniture not only plays into the modest style, deferring back to the verdant greenery pressing up to the window panes of this home, but also a smart decision for a remote spot with limited access.

 

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