A Coastal-Inspired Urban Retreat – City Beach House by Fearon Hay

Housed within two rectilinear volumes, City Beach House combines the coastal home and the urban dwelling. Fearon Hay has graciously brought the differing styles together through a contemporary monochromatic lens.

Located in Takapuna, this crisp and contemporary family home imbues feelings of compactness and intimacy and the curated lifestyle of its owners. Featuring operable perforated metal façade elements, the home is a series of clean lines that open to its surrounding garden and openly welcome the exterior inward. The home loosely references elements of mid-century design principles in its relationship of the interior with the exterior, and its large-spanning openings. At the core of City Beach House is an ingrained connectedness, a sense of calm, and of control over how the building lives and breathes. Fearon Hay has brought a sense of the coastal home typology to the suburban realm through a considered approach.

Designed formally as two rectangular volumes, City Beach House takes cues from the contrasting traditional aesthetic styles of the coastal home and the urban dwelling. At just under 300 square metres, the home is located in a suburban setting and the client wanted to combine a love for the beach-side retreat with the anticipated typology of its surrounding neighbours. The resulting home is one that could be sited in any coastal environment, surrounded by a generous and lush landscape. The relaxed nature of the planning of each of the spaces, and the openness of its borders to the outside, make this home an inviting reflection of the values of its owners.

Under two separate roof structures, the volumes come together effortlessly, connected by a central grassed courtyard. Spread over two levels connected by an equally minimal and effortless staircase, the downstairs houses the living, eating, preparing and cooking areas, all designed to flow between one another. Upstairs, bedrooms and additional living areas are tucked away for a more private setting. The additional volume then also houses additional sleeping quarters, adding another level of separation and retreat.

This crisp and contemporary family home imbues feelings of compactness and intimacy and the curated lifestyle of its owners.

Clad in raw sawn timber boards and expanded aluminium mesh screens, the volumes are brought together through their monochromatic and minimal palette, in which white is the hero. The exposed framing offers a nod to the less formal structures of holiday homes, and the addition of operable elements allows for the building to adapt to its climate throughout the year. Fearon Hay has brought together two beautifully crafted volumes to create City Beach House, a home that responds to and receives from its site to offer a private retreat for its owners.