The new house at Piha in the early morning. Photo / Michael Craig
The new house at Piha in the early morning. Photo / Michael Craig
A new ‘bunker house’ at Piha by designer Chris Tate is turning heads for its unorthodox design.
The black box-like structure has been built on a site next door to the Piha Surf Life Saving Club and stands out for its brutalist design, perched on a V-shaped concrete plinthwith a single slot window facing the ocean.
Tate, renowned for his unusual designs, indicated plans responded to the client’s brief.
“The design has been driven by the need to provide privacy for the occupants while framing the views with the bunker-like ‘slot’. The house is constructed in sand, which has created an engineering masterpiece,” Tate’s website says.
The radical "bunker house" in a landscape of more traditional homes at Piha beside the surf lifesaving club. Photo / Michael Craig
Asked about the home, Tate told the Herald this week he could not speak about it, but he did appreciate the interest.
“We are entering it in the New Zealand Home of the Year competition and it’s super-strict about entries being unpublished,” he said.
The house is drawing strong reactions from many in the area, including one woman who did not think it was a private home but part of the neighbouring surf lifesaving club.
That was due to the slot window, which she thought had been designed for lifeguards.
Construction of the home had taken several years, people in the area said.
The house is drawing strong reactions from many in the area. Photo / Michael Craig
Others expressed surprise.
“In the case of a zombie apocalypse, just lift the stairs, sit down, open a beer and relax,” said one person.
Another was taken aback at how the house sits above the land: “Where do you have the BBQ? Where are the decks?” he asked.
One man said he expected homes to fit more into the landscape than the ‘bunker house’ and disapproved of the design being so different to the buildings surrounding it.
Although Piha had some eye-catching modern new homes, these had a strong connection between the interiors and the landscape, he said.
Stark contrast: The Piha Surf Life Saving Club (left) neighbours the new "bunker house" in Marine Parade South. Photo / Michael Craig
A construction specialist praised the design for the challenge it posed and explained how it had been built.
He called it “very cool. The V is made with in-situ concrete poured on site as opposed to precast and has been poured in two halves. The V will be supported with a concrete ground beam hidden underground and then piles under that, all heavily reinforced”.
Urbis magazine published an interview with Tate and featured a photo of foundations for the bunker house, showing the huge V with reinforcing steel protruding through the top.
An older small, more traditional weatherboard Kiwi bach stood on the site, its garage tucked down the drive to the back.
The original house on the site where the "bunker house" now stands in Marine Parade South at Piha. Photo / Google Streetview
A picture window faced the ocean, with a lean-to at the back.
Tate describes himself as designing buildings of outstanding and unique modernity.
“Each of his designs is as individual and daring as his imagination will go, statements that create a lasting impression on the world,” his online content says.
The bunker house is not the only structure to turn heads at Piha lately.
Last November, Crosson Architects’ North Piha surf lifeguard tower won a Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects national award, praised for its robust, concrete utilitarian structure.
The architects were praised for their use of black oxide precast circular concrete pipe sections, which were stacked to brace against the wind and make a strong visual statement at the black-sand beach.
“A very functional and safe spiral staircase leads to the cantilevered watch house, its operable ribbon windows like a pair of wrap-around westie sunglasses providing views up and down North Piha’s rugged surf coast,” said the jurors, headed by Dave Strachan.
Use of materials praised in North Piha's Te Pae surf lifesaving tower. Photo / Samuel Hartnett
That North Piha tower was a finalist in last year’s World Architecture Festival in Lisbon, a finalist in the Concrete NZ Nauhria Awards, a winner in the Architectural Concrete Award, and won a local award from the institute for the Auckland area last year
“The brief was for a robust, low-maintenance building that would withstand the severe North Piha coastal environment. It needed to provide accommodation for four lifeguards with excellent visibility along the beach – a building that was functional and responded to its context,” Crossons said.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
