[ad_1]
REVIEW: Some people love to live dangerously. Even if that means they are always keeping an eye on the weather in case a storm is brewing at sea. In case the waves literally flood the house.
Like the beachfront construction couple featured in the latest episode of Grand Designs NZ.
Mark and Pip Pennington have chosen to build by the sea on the Kāpiti coast in Paekākāriki, an exposed location where coastal erosion is accelerating with climate change. You can tell it’s a problem just by looking at the effort made by the locals to keep the sea out of their homes – huge retaining walls of rock and wood line the beach.
MEDIAWORKS
Pip and Mark Pennington stand amid the debris from the last storm to hit these shores of the KÄ ?? coastline. piti. They hope their new gambion stone walls will prevent a wall of water from hitting their new PaekÄ ?? beach house. kÄ ?? riki.
And even then, the high tide roars up the walls, begging the question, “What happens in a storm?”
READ MORE:
* Grand Designs NZ – Building an Extreme Piha beach house highlights the stress of underestimating cost
* Grand Designs NZ – Massive construction inserts $ 6 million penthouse into former Farmers tearooms
* Grand Designs NZ: Ode to the classic Kiwi bach
Yes, these are the constructions that we love to see, and this last one is a beauty. Grand Designs NZ Host Chris Moller describes this part of the coastline as a “challenging place to live, not a place that perhaps in this day and age you would think of building.”
“The coast is really being eaten on a daily basis,” he says. “And Mark and Pip are going to be building right on shore, almost with their feet in the water. Now would you call that brave or would you have to use a different word?
MEDIAWORKS
There is an easy flow outdoors onto a large deck facing the sea.
EVEN THE LOCALS THINK THEY’RE CRAZY
The couple admit that the locals think they are crazy. And right at the beginning of this episode, there is a photo of them climbing up the beach to escape a wave that reaches the wall. And that was not a storm surge.
Mark, an industrial designer and Moller’s mentor, acknowledges that they are living “on the edge,” but says that instead of being a threat, he finds the location “exhilarating and exciting.” Pip, a microbiologist, says she’s “not mad at storms,” to which Mark replies, “You have to hang on.”
Hold on to what? Each other? Your sanity? The tree?
MEDAWORKS
Chris Moller enjoys some sunshine with Pip and Mark outside the main room.
“You always say exciting and I always say scary,” Pip tells Mark, who loves the wildness and fury of the waves. You are doing this because you want this emotion in your life. And we get it, but do you really need the added stress of potential danger to life and property?
Now retired, these two want a warm and comfortable beach house to replace the old brick bungalow on site. And keeping costs low is essential. They then opt for a modular construction designed by architect Geoff Fletcher. It is “very low-key, simple and unpretentious”, a house that sits gently on the sand dune.
Two rectangular black-coated pavilions will be linked by a transparent link element. The front canopy will be raised to “float” on steel poles to provide a little more height above sea level. So far so good. That is exactly what this site needs. Sounds like the perfect bach.
MEDIAWORKS
There is a strong industrial aesthetic to the architecture, the soft furnishings make it comfortable and cozy.
MEDIAWORKS
There is a beautiful plywood kitchen with stainless steel countertops, which is just what Pip asked for. The dining chairs are made of recycled plastic.
Modular design is a highly efficient and sustainable approach that should keep costs low. All the modules are standardized and Moller notes that they will give the house a reduced elegance and beauty.
Mark loves the idea of the tension between the solidity of the rear canopy and the lightness of the floating canopy that opens up into view.
And the budget? $ 550,000, with a term of six months. Moller is skeptical of both. But unsurprisingly, he is more skeptical about the sea. The Penningtons admit that during the last cyclone before construction began, the sea passed over the wall and circled the old bach, depositing large chunks of driftwood in the front yard.
MEDIAWORKS
This is the master bedroom. The couple did not want a window on the left side, which would have given them an ocean view.
Before work begins on the house, the builders reinforce the retaining wall on the beach with gabion blocks, cages containing rocks, each weighing one ton. That is to prevent the land (and the house) from being washed.
Mark is nostalgic for the demolition of the old house, and even more so for the removal of a brick garage which is the only remaining link to a famous former owner: the renowned classical composer Douglas Lilburn, who lived there in the 1950s. We listen to his music played on the piano in the house by pianist Mary Gow (who lives just down the road), while the surf roars outside, and it’s a magical moment.
There are the usual delays with supplies, but construction is progressing well with Nick Robbers. And how great that Mark, who designed the famous Life office chair, is ordering new dining chairs made from recycled fishing nets.
MEDIAWORKS
And this is the guest suite in the rear pavilion, which opens onto a private terrace.
We keep seeing drone shots of the house and the sea rolling towards it; the house seems so small and vulnerable next to this incredible swell (on a normal day).
Moller shows up for the reveal, and all is calm.
‘IT FEELS LIKE THE SEA IS ARRIVING PROPER’
“It feels like the sea is entering the house directly,” he says as he enters. “Well, I hope not,” the others joke. We hope that is not prophetic.
The house is beautiful, bright, architecturally minimal and simple on the inside. The furniture balances the most industrial elements. And the great outdoor room with the old fireplace next to the old garage makes a super terrace. We love the idea of the nucleus: modules with the kitchen and bathrooms in the center of the pavilion, leaving long corridors on both sides.
MEDIAWORKS
Chris Moller becomes contemplative in one of the corridors: the sea is always changing.
Pip got his plywood kitchen and a stainless steel table top, and he’s perfectly bachy. However, we are still not sure of the wall that blocks the ocean view from the master bedroom. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to lie on the bed and look at that? Or maybe privacy is an issue.
A guest shelter occupies the rear pavilion, and there is also another terrace.
They are rightly delighted. And the budget? They went 20 percent to just over $ 600,000.
Moller, more than once, says he feels it is like a “contemporary Greek temple” by the sea.
MEDIAWORKS
A lone macrocarpa tree has survived the full force of the storms passing through the Tasman.
We know what could happen, we know that climate change increases the frequency of major storms. There will be a storm that breaks the retaining walls. But would we want to live there?
YES YES YES. We love the ideal of living “on the edge” in paradise.
Our bet is that this house will have a lifespan in this place, and then when things get a little tricky (it can be 10-20 years), it may move to sit a little higher in another place.
Grand Designs NZ is on display at Three on Mondays at 7:30 pm
