Connection to Place – Boat Sheds by Strachan Group Architects in association with Rachael Rush
Referencing its location and the familiar silhouettes that shape the area, Boat Sheds sees three aligned peaks sit comfortably in place. In association with Rachael Rush, Strachan Group Architects combines rhythm and repetition to reflect the owners and their passionate connection to beach and boat culture and the outdoors.
Able to be opened and closed in response to the surrounds ensures Boat Sheds is both reactive and responsible in its engagement with its immersive environment. Located in Takapuna, the home resembles the silhouette of a row of storage vessels along the water’s edge, coming together as three gabled forms tightly packed alongside one another. The expression acts to both connect the architecture and its owners to the uniquely sited allotment and to ensure an appropriate response to context through form. By taking the familiar and viewing it through a contemporary lens, the resulting volumes open up internally and connect to allow a comfortable flow of movement throughout. In association with Rachael Rush, Strachan Group Architects draws from nearby contextual cues to ensure the response is aptly fitting whilst also being subtly symbolic.
Built by Bonham Builders & Management, together with landscape design by Strachan Group Landscape Architects, the home is crafted through an opportunistic approach. Flanked on one side by a three-storey building and with a limited front streetscape presence, the decision to direct efforts inward sees the creation of an internal courtyard of sorts. Combining both a sense of privacy and protection from the elements, while also permitting the internal areas of the home to open up, the enclosable space allows the home to breathe. Views out towards the Baiting and Pohutukawa Oceans are emphasised where possible and, as a reminder of the proximity to the water, layering transparency and the ability to capture and direct light play a key role.
The sliding nature of the forms see large doors allow openings the size of a figurative boat to enter them. Through the considered treatment of materiality, the doors have a domestic and familiar quality to how they form the face of the home. The palette of warm timbers combines with the cool and protective dark metal sheeting and cladding elements, creating a welcomed balance. The contrast crafts a welcoming series of interior spaces that feel cocooning on the inside while robust and sheltered from the outside. A similar simplicity of the formal language is carried through into the more ornate detailing, ensuring an elevation from the traditional boat shed vernacular while removing the need for compromise.
