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10 New Zealand Homes That’ll Inspire a Trip to the Edge of the Earth

In his new book, photographer Simon Devitt captures some of New Zealand’s most stunning homes, from sun-drenched baches in Northland to rammed earth houses in the deep south.

<span style="font-family: Theinhardt, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, &quot;Segoe UI&quot;, Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, sans-serif;">"Set in splendid isolation in a small, surf-battered bay on the north coast of Horomaka Banks Peninsula, this rustic style dwelling is luxury accommodation at Annandale, a 4000-hectare beef and sheep farm. The bay is nature in the raw. Seals and penguins frequent the dense kelp beds offshore, whales and dolphins travel the coastline, and piled on the beach are tangles of bleaching driftwood. Faced with such an uncompromising location, architect Andrew Patterson eschewed a modern or abstracted path—which, he reasons, 'would have fought the timeless nature of the bay’—in favour of a rural vernacular form, albeit on a monumental scale.</span>"

In New Zealand, the dramatic landscapes can capture your imagination. They’ve inspired some to design homes in harmony with the country’s awe-inspiring settings, which photographer Simon Devitt has now captured in a new volume, Cape to Bluff, a collection of 30 homes that include small beach homes, or baches, as they’re known, midcentury-inspired coastal dwellings, and riverside retreats set among gold miners’ cottages.

"It felt like the right time to show an aspirational view of how New Zealand architects respond to the varying nature of our landscape," says Devitt, who produced the book alongside writer Andrea Stevens and graphic designer Luke Scott. "And it’s a contemporary view curated to convey not just different places in New Zealand but also different ways of living."

Cape to Bluff: A Survey of Residential Architecture From Aotearoa New Zealand

Weaving through dreamy and dramatic locations, including a crescent-moon shaped bach in Tutukaka and a bivvy house inspired by a goldminers hut overlooking Lake Wakatipu, Cape to Bluff tells not only the story of New Zealand’s fluctuating microclimate and how we respond to creative challenges, but also speaks to how we live today, and what we value.Featuring the work of thirty of Aotearoa’s leading architects, some structures never seen in public before, Cape to Bluff is a celebration of the new dawn of New Zealand architecture, once outward looking and seeking inspiration – now self-assured, sensible, poetic and sustainable. Image courtesy of Simon Devitt

Each home in the book is carefully chosen to give the reader a view of New Zealand they would never otherwise experience, bringing together architecture, landscape, and photography in one breathtaking volume. Read on for a few of its most impressive homes, brought into vivid focus by Devitt’s facility behind the lens.

Tutukaka House by Belinda George

"Curled into a natural amphitheatre, this gentle timber house turns to face the sun rather than the sea. Responding to the landform, its simple semicircle creates north-facing spaces sheltered from onshore winds. One corner braves the sea cliff, facing the salt and spray, but most of the house is surrounded by bush and orients towards a small valley—the ocean all the more present for being ignored formally."

Curled into a natural amphitheater, this gentle timber house turns to face the sun rather than the sea. Responding to the landform, its simple semicircle creates north-facing spaces sheltered from onshore winds. One corner braves the sea cliff, facing the salt and spray, but most of the house is surrounded by bush and orients toward a small valley, the ocean all the more present for being ignored formally. The site holds vivid childhood memories for its owner, Tom Bowden. His
parents purchased the coastal farm in the 1960s, and he grew up exploring the landscape alongside his five siblings. Forty years later and the Bowden family are returning 90 percent of the farm to native bush. Setting aside a small site for each family member, they sold five lots to fund the reforestation of the remaining 110-hectare estate, all of it protected under the QEII National Trust.

Photo by Simon Devitt

Party Wall House by Patchwork Architecture

"Named after the metre-thick cast concrete wall separating mirrored dwellings, Party Wall House traces a clean outline on a bush-clad hillside in Wellington. Answering the brief to reimagine density, Ben Mitchell-Anyon and Sally Ogle of Patchwork Architecture subvert a number of notions about duplex living. A singular roof brings elegance to a two-part project and enables efficiency in siting, retaining existing trees for both outlook and privacy."

Named after the meter-thick cast concrete wall separating mirrored dwellings, Party Wall House traces a clean outline on a bush-clad hillside in Wellington. Answering the brief to reimagine density, Ben Mitchell-Anyon and Sally Ogle of Patchwork Architecture subvert a number of notions about duplex living. A singular roof brings elegance to a two-part project and enables efficiency in siting, retaining existing trees for both outlook and privacy.

Photo by Simon Devitt

"‘With our designs we like embedding a narrative, another level of engagement,’ explains architect Ken Crosson, whose designs often evince a playful or subversive element. It was local gold-mining history that lent its narrative to Light Mine House, a beach bach at Kūaotunu, on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula. Nestling among the sand dunes and pīngao, a series of boxes is made unique by the addition of tapering skylights that reach for the sky."

"With our designs we like embedding a narrative, another level of engagement," explains architect Ken Crosson, whose designs often evince a playful or subversive element. It was local gold-mining history that lent its narrative to Light Mine House, a beach "bach" at Kūaotunu, on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula. Nestling among the sand dunes and pīngao, a coastal grass, a series of boxes is made unique by the addition of tapering skylights that reach for the sky.

Photo by Simon Devitt

See the full story on Dwell.com: 10 New Zealand Homes That’ll Inspire a Trip to the Edge of the Earth
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