The house is located on a large coastal site on Waiheke Island.
The client required a four bedroom house with generous living areas, an art gallery and an artist’s studio. The house has a cruciform plan with wings stretching out into the landscape and forming four partially open courtyards; an entry court, a service court, a morning terrace which looks out to a hill, and an afternoon court with landscaped terraces which look out to the sea.
Formally the house is a composition of box-like forms and floating planar roofs. It has an austerity inspired by the stony batter fortification on the island and is anchored into the earth with the terrace walls.
![Matiatia 03](https://www.stevenslawson.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Matiatia-03-799x1060.jpg)
The materials are raw and textured, giving an earthy quality to the bold geometric forms. Concrete, zinc and stained cedar form a subtly contrasting palette. The interior spaces are arranged to capture views and sunlight and form a meandering open plan.