By Patterson Associates
Situated on Banks Pensinsula, in the South Island of New Zealand, Seascape is a shelter designed as a romantic honeymoon retreat for paying guests. The beachside cottage is set into a rock escarpment in a tiny boulder strewn South Pacific cove.
This retreat consists of just three rooms; a porch, living/sleeping space, and a bathroom. It is built using all local materials and is constructed largely from rock quarried near its site with in-situ poured concrete floors and an earth turfed roof. The reinforced structure is integrated into the escarpment above to protect occupants from falling debris. The project incorporated an extensive reforestation and re-vegetation sub project.
Its plan is an interlocking geometry responding to both near views of the Bay and far views out to Rocky Spires.The building is lined with horizontal macrocarpa wood. This timber forms integrated joinery, wall and ceiling panels behind double glazed low e-glass in storm and shatter proof steel mullions which utilise earthquake resistant sliding heads.