The house by Parsonson Architects is in Waikanae, a small verdant sea side town on the Kapiti Coast 45 minutes north of New Zealand's capital city, Wellington. With panels of fibro coloured to match the surrounding area, this 'dune-hopper' home feels modern but relevant to its seaside locale…
Waikanae House is in the old beach area of Waikanae where many of the houses are holiday homes or ‘baches’ built from the early 1900's onwards.
The house is a holiday retreat for a Wellington couple and their three children. The site is a narrow strip, which sits behind a high fore-dune towards the beach.
The house is designed as a ‘dune hopper’ with the single open-plan living space sitting on top of the bedrooms and peers out to the sea and Kapiti Island beyond.
The house references the fibrolite sheet construction used in many of the 1950s houses nearby with colours drawn from the seaside location.
