Tree House, Brick Bay - Warkworth, New Zealand

Creating a new building in an environment of protected, mature trees comes with an irrefutable mandate to speak sensitively and appropriately of the place in which it sits. The idea of a tree house seems to be the most natural thing when building a house in a forest.

The clients wanted an open layout for this unique setting, protection from the sun and a flexible composition, in which the bush was more important than ocean views. Their brief was to create a robust setting with flexible and adaptive spaces. The result was a design of an understated home – a tree house - screened from the street and placed in the midst of a grove of Kauri trees and Nikau palms, developing in various, generous platforms around a central staircase, opened wide and reaching back to the bush, while cantilevering seaward to nearby Brick Bay.

Programmatically, the home offers a self-contained apartment at the lower level, two platforms with bedrooms and a flexible room above as well as living/ dining/ cooking area plus main decks up top. The centrally placed internal stairs are interconnecting the different platforms and levels, creating the home’s heart, the vocal point of the house. Across all levels, materials speak of the sea, of driftwood and of the bush.

The spiritual intend of the house is that you can feel the forest floating through the home, down the ridge and towards the sea.

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The elevation Northeast. The design was based on a modular grid to allow for prefabricated CLT wall, floor and roof elements as an environmentally responsible solution to the constrains offered by the remote setting.	Elevation north-west. Nestling into the forest, the home pays homage to its unique surrounding.	Elevation south-east. Generous outdoor decks and sliding doors ensure inhabitants remain connected to the natural environment.
Floor plan level 1. The cedar clad house comprises three cantilevered modules reaching out into the forest and linked by a central staircase.	Floor plan level 2 and 3. Internal and external living areas radiate out from the central kitchen. Much of the upper floor area can be opened up to the elements.

Tree House, Brick Bay - Warkworth, New Zealand

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The elevation Northeast. The design was based on a modular grid to allow for prefabricated CLT wall, floor and roof elements as an environmentally responsible solution to the constrains offered by the remote setting.

Elevation north-west. Nestling into the forest, the home pays homage to its unique surrounding.

Elevation south-east. Generous outdoor decks and sliding doors ensure inhabitants remain connected to the natural environment.

Floor plan level 1. The cedar clad house comprises three cantilevered modules reaching out into the forest and linked by a central staircase.

Floor plan level 2 and 3. Internal and external living areas radiate out from the central kitchen. Much of the upper floor area can be opened up to the elements.

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