There’s a landline buried somewhere near Richard Naish’s holiday home but no plans to connect it. Kim Dungey reports.
Architect Richard Naish wanted the Central Otago home he designed for himself and his family to provide the bare minimum needed on holiday.
The hut, as the family calls it, is only 72sq m. There is one bathroom, one separate bedroom and a bunkroom. The kitchen has a single small bench and there is no Wi-Fi or television.
Naish says he wanted staying there to be the antithesis of fast-paced Auckland — a quiet spot with a small house and a minimum of facilities so the experience of being on holiday was "amplified".
"It’s very much inspired by the small farm building or tramping hut ... by trying to minimise the amenities that a lot of holiday houses have and just get down to basics."
Despite living in Auckland, the family of five has a strong connection with Central Otago. Naish’s family had a bach at Lake Hawea when he was growing up, while wife Andrea Hotere was raised in Dunedin, but often stayed at a relative’s crib in Queenstown.
The couple chose to build at Cardrona because it was close to Wanaka and Queenstown but felt "nicely remote", away from the hustle and bustle of busy holiday periods, Naish says.
With two sets of bunks stacked three-high and built-in sofas serving as extra beds, the hut sleeps up to 10 people and is an ideal space to bring friends and family together.
The simple gable form takes its cues from local vernacular architecture and the materials are chosen from a similarly appropriate palette: local stone, corrugated iron and timber (in this case, cedar which is the most dimensionally stable timber in an extreme climate).
Sliding screens and operable shutters over the windows allow the house to be completely closed off and secured, as well as moderating the wind and sunlight.
The western end of the living area is almost entirely glass and the house has a high stud, translating to a "sense of spaciousness", which often surprises people.
Naish also wanted the spaces to be flexible. One simple space serves as the kitchen, dining and living area. The 24sq m terrace between the living and sleeping areas is an "outdoor day space", a place where the children can sleep on stretchers in summer and — with a floor of large schist blocks — doubles as a garage.
The heavily-insulated home is only 4m wide, its dimensions partly determined by the family’s "dilapidated" 3.7m-long 1974 Land Rover. Naish says when it isn’t parked on the terrace, they like to cook on the fire there or sit in the shade talking.
"It’s an alternative to the projecting timber deck which pokes off the front of most New Zealand baches. With the harsh summer sun, shade is really important. Then in winter you can slide the screens across and have an enjoyable outdoor space with the fire going, in sub-zero temperatures."
A winner in the recent New Zealand Architecture Awards, the building was described by the awards’ jury as being suggestive of a back-country tramping hut "although its detailing and level of design deliver a rather more bespoke architectural experience".
"The hut proclaims, in an understated and highly legible way, the timely message that small can be beautiful."
Two other projects by Naish’s RTA Studio also received awards, one of them his family home in Grey Lynn.
