Omata Seaside Home / Herbst Architects

Omata Seaside Home / Herbst Architects

Textual content description supplied by the architects. The positioning for the seashore home is a spectacular remoted bay on the coast of Northland, fringed with historical Pohutukawas and contained by steep hills coated in native bush. The design problem was to insert a brand new construction into the pristine atmosphere in such a method as to be as unimposing and sympathetic as doable. 

The constructing replaces an current dilapidated bach on the positioning which was positioned up in opposition to the steep embankments of the bay, geotechnical investigation of which uncovered a excessive stage of menace from massive rocks being dislodged by seismic exercise in addition to slips from excessive rainfall occasions.  As well as, an inundation report was ready which established a minimal relative stage for the constructing to be protected from ocean storm surges and medium-term sea stage rise, being 6m above the present excessive water mark. These two elements drove our pondering on the way to website the brand new constructing and embed it into the panorama, the primary job was to design the land to obtain the constructing. 

In addition to the necessity to transfer the constructing away from the steep embankments from a security perspective was the need to maneuver the constructing away from the shade of the hills and into the sunnier a part of the positioning out there to us, this established the extent of the realm that required lifting to the 6m RL. 

The idea that emerged had its seeds within the rocks which might be embedded all through the embankments behind the positioning, we imagined a low rock sea wall that rolls out from the curve of the embankment to type a proper angle within the plan and a pointy horizontal line in elevation which establishes a plinth which is stuffed to stage and onto which, and inside the capabilities of the home are positioned. 

With a view to cut back the size of the construction we broke this system of the home into three primary elements: dwelling, sleeping, and storage. The sleeping and storage capabilities we articulated as a part of the plinth somewhat than of the constructing, low, clad in rock with a pointy horizontal parapet line as for the plinth and burying itself into the slope of the embankment at both finish of the best angle. 

The dwelling pavilion is a lightweight timber construction with glass on three sides that presents itself as a roof floating above the plinth, its slumped curved type softens its impression and raises the road of view from inside to the ocean and its headlands and the hills behind respectively. A layer of spaced timber battens traces the sting of the shape and creates an edge to the lanai house, additional sliding shutters enable screening from the prevailing winds in each instructions.