John Irving balances public and private at Oneroa

Studio John Irving creates a balance between public and private on a beachfront site on Waiheke Island.

The etiquette of engagement with surroundings can be fraught for beachfront homes. Too much of an exposed fish-bowl design and you’re on view to everyone passing by; too fortress-like and you’re at risk of cutting yourself off from the view and being, let’s face it, rather unfriendly. When the beach in question is on an island that frequently makes international traveller must-visit lists, then privacy can become quite an issue in the heat of summer when beachgoer numbers swell. When John Irving of Studio John Irving designed this beach house for clients at Oneroa on Waiheke Island, he was already aware how the family of five – a couple and their three young sons – like to live. Jokingly describing his clients as “repeat offenders”, Irving had designed for the family before, the most recent project being an extension to their home in Orakei, Auckland. A “look-at-me” beach house wasn’t going to be their style. The family had owned their spot at Oneroa for a couple of years, enjoying holidays in a modest bach that didn’t afford them much privacy. Compounding the need for a little more seclusion was the fact that immediately on the eastern flank of their site, a path from Oneroa village zigzags down the hill through a reserve to the beach and a block of public toilets. Oneroa is handy to the passenger ferry terminal at Matiatia on the western end of Waiheke. “So people come over on the ferry, walk or catch the bus to Oneroa, walk the zigzag path down to the beach and then plonk themselves on the sand, right in front of the house,” Irving says. Set low on the sloping site, Irving designed a house with a courtyard form as a way of breaking up the bulk and not dominating the site. A gabled living pavilion on the beach-side (with a boat shed underneath at ground level) and a gabled, two-storey bedroom and bathroom tower set into the hillside to the rear are connected by a kitchen and dining spine, massed on the reserve side. “The gabled forms help provide privacy,” says Irving, “but aren’t too dominant visually.”

TEXT — Penny Lewis PHOTOGRAPHY — Simon Wilson Left The new beachfront home has an aged palette that allows the dwelling to recede into its setting. Right The gabled living pavilion on the beach side of the house includes boat storage, which is tucked beneath the deck.

Left Macrocarpa steps nestle against poured concrete at the side of the house, leading up from the lawn and into the courtyard. Right The gabled roof is a cheeky reference to a nearby public toilet block.