Cheshire Architects has completed an off-grid house complex made of three small volumes around a sun-drenched courtyard in New Zealand. 

Named Awaawaroa Bay, the 190-square-metre house presents an intimate feel in this small complex with a beautiful courtyard. 

Situated in this south-facing site, as the studio explains, the idea was to create a home without formality and off grid.

The architects proposed "an encampment" comprised of three small volumes embodying different parts of that occupation, clustered around a loose sun-drenched courtyard. 

"We hoped to celebrate the difference between inside and outside - and the reinforcing, occupying and eroding of the threshold between those states," said the architects. 

The main volume is envisioned like a chapel-like living room lined with fragrant old timber. This space is perfect for two or twenty, and a couple of dogs. 

"Hunkered down on a windy evening around a fire on a sofa carved from the room itself," added the firm. 

The owners prefer their family meal at the outdoor bench, blurring the kitchen and courtyard into one. "Canvas cloaked sleeping spaces lined inside with timber and creaking gently like yachts." 

The team designed window frames big enough to shower in. A bunkroom which feels intimate but sleeps 10, each in their own nook.

"The spaces are a family of related but not identical siblings," added the studio. The team proposed pragmatic and restrained details for the complex. 

Comprising a single gable and a couple of sheds, this little home was conceived carefully, built simply, and dressed informally. "We hoped this would be enough to slough away the memory of the city entirely," as the team explained.

Site plan

Floor plans

Sections

South elevation

East elevation

Project facts

Project name: Awaawaroa Bay

Architects: Cheshire Architects

Location: New Zealand

Size: 190m2 

Date: 2020

All images © Jackie Meiring

All drawings © Cheshire Architects

> via Cheshire Architects