Set a few blocks back from the beach, Stretch occupies a central Mount Maunganui site wedged neatly between the sea and the hum of local shops. It’s a location prized less for postcard views and more for lifestyle: walkability, amenity, and proximity to the water without the exposure of a beachfront address. Conceived as a retirement home to be shared with extended family, the brief called for a place that could both host extended family and offer retreat for the owners. But with a highly public interface to the street and steady foot traffic passing by, privacy quickly became a defining driver of the architecture.
Site constraints also informed both the name and the form of the house, with site parameters dictating that the house stretch down the length of the section. Rather than fighting the proportions, Architecture Bureau embraced them, using the extended footprint to organise a clear, legible plan and a series of layered spaces that unfold gradually as you move through the home.
“The form became a long, slender building of two floors pulled out across the site to maximise internal amenity while maintaining streetfront privacy,” shares architect Evan Mayo. “The clients wanted a pretty simple, traditional-type form with gables so it would have plenty of height and light in the inside spaces.”
The exterior material palette is robust, coastal and deliberately restrained. Precast concrete, weatherboards and Colorsteel combine to create a durable envelope designed to weather in Mount Maunganui’s salt-laden air with minimal maintenance. The concrete, in particular, lends a sense of permanence and strength to the lower level, anchoring the building to its site while providing a visual counterpoint to the lightness of the gabled form above.
The clients’ furniture import business in Asia also subtly influenced the material language. Darker tones, tactile surfaces and a sense of weight and calm provide contrast to the bright, sun-soaked setting outside, creating a home that feels grounded rather than bleached by light.
Arrival is carefully choreographed. A perforated lattice screen shields the entry, filtering views and light while immediately establishing privacy from the street. This threshold leads to the ground floor, which houses a fully self-contained flat, providing a flexible space designed for a carer, guest, or future flatmate. Complete with its own kitchenette, laundry and outdoor area, it functions independently without reading as a separate dwelling. This level also absorbs the realities of beach living: generous garage space, storage for surfboards and equipment, a gym, and room for all the paraphernalia that comes with an active coastal lifestyle.
Upstairs is where the house fully opens out. All primary living spaces are located on the first floor, allowing the owners to live comfortably on a single level while lifting daily life above street activity. Bedrooms and bathrooms flank a central corridor, villa-like in its organisation, before giving way to an expansive open-plan kitchen, dining and living area. From here, the house stretches outward again with a large deck and a swimming pool brought up to meet the first-floor level.
“When you live up on the first floor, you don’t have to keep walking down to go for a swim or to supervise children,” says Mayo. “So we built the pool up to meet the outdoor living area at the first level.”
This unique design move wasn’t as tricky as it sounds, as the first floor is around 2.7 metres and the pool depth roughly two metres, which meant building a platform of less than a metre. The added advantage was the lack of pool fencing required.
Inside, the material language shifts toward intimacy and retreat. Dark-stained macrocarpa, stone, textured tiles and plastered concrete walls replace the glare of white, creating spaces that feel cool, calm and cocooning.
“When you’re in Mount Maunganui, the sun is really bright and intense, you want to go inside where it’s dark and cool,” Mayo explains.
The interiors deliberately absorb light rather than reflect it, offering relief from the outdoors while still maintaining a strong connection to it. These finishes are not only atmospheric but practical, chosen for their ability to age gracefully and invite touch.
For Mayo, it’s these finer details that bring balance to the project. One of his favourite aspects of the design is the fine 10mm steel handrail of the front deck balustrade.
“The idea of that was that it balances out the heaviness of the concrete on that same level,” he shares.
It’s a small gesture, but one that encapsulates Stretch as a whole: a careful equilibrium between solidity and softness, brightness and shade.
Words: Joanna Seton
Located in suburban Mt Maunganui, the existing site is gently dropped away from the road towards the back of the site.
The client’s desire was that the external character of the home feel modern and traditional but also modern. In response the design of the building uses a gable form and timber weatherboards that are sympathetic to a tradition of timber building, but modern with a carefully mix of steel and concrete as modern building materials. Due to potential of future coastal flooding, the method of construction was specific design concrete block walls and tilt slab panels and first floor constructed with traditional steel and timber frame construction. Due to the coastal location the client was particularly concerned about avoiding high maintenance cladding materials that wouldn’t corrode or require regular painting or recoating. Internal material selections were specifically selected to generate character and to reflect the desired qualities of a simple and home, while being also being durable, warm and visually appealing.
Architecture Bureau works closely with a number of consultants and skilled craftsman. We invited interior designer, Annique Heesen from Gezellig Interiors to collaborate on this project with us from the early stages of the project to assist our client with reviewing and refining their final interior finishes for timber veneers, tiles, cabinetry design, plumbing fixtures, light fittings, soft furnishings and carpets, including liaising with material suppliers and subcontractors during construction. The project was constructed by another regular collaborators, Jared Coombes from JC BOP Ltd who with his construction team expertly constructed this home.
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