Cliff House

This home is an arrangement of concrete and glazed forms sited on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean, Rangitoto Island and the extent of the Hauraki Gulf. The client sought a two-storey glass volume that could maximise the views while providing shelter from prevailing weather. A lap pool has been cast in to the edge of a stone terrace, forming the edge of an elevated terrace behind the house and it's extensive water horizon. The palette is extremely pared back, using a textured plaster over concrete and masonry construction. The double height glazed volume is formed in frameless glass panels suspended as a crystalline enclosure over a steel frame. Sliding glass panels can be retracted below this enclosure to give uninterrupted connection to the outlook and terrace on each side. A bathing space is set into one corner of the concrete mass, with retractable glass walls and operable screens to allow a sense of the entire space being part of the ocean front environment.

Project Details: The internal floor area is approximately 550m2 and construction was completed in mid 2005. Fearon Hay’s project team was led by Tim Dorrington and Stephen de Vrij. Tim Hay and Jeff Fearon are the design architects. Photography is by Patrick Reynolds.