Dune House by Gezellig Interiors and Architecture Bureau

Inspired by the waves and shifting sands of Mount Maunganui, Dune House uses inventive shadow play, organic curves and a textural palette to capture the rejuvenating joy of a day at the beach.

Viewed from the shore, this contemporary family home in New Zealand’s North Island appears to rise out of the sand dunes, its palette of materials blending seamlessly with nature’s coastal composition, while its gentle curves and irregular angles echo the wind-sculpted silhouettes of the dunes. Though this visual connection to the coast was deliberate and driven by the beach-besotted homeowners, architect Evan Mayo of Architecture Bureau says the shape of Dune House was dictated as much by practicality as aesthetics. “We wanted to keep the form reasonably simple and cost-effective, but the clients didn’t want a boring box with a flat roof,” he says. “We dropped the roof down to protect the neighbour’s sunshine, pulled up a corner to capture the winter sun, and those technical requirements resulted in a house that’s a bit more organic, with a gentle folding motion that echoes the randomness and movement of the dunes.”

The relationship of the house to the beach was key, with the extra wide site allowing for an extraordinary view of the ocean.

The relationship of the house to the beach was key, with the extra wide site allowing for an extraordinary view of the ocean. “With the wider frontage, they could have a more expansive view of the beach, but then it became a balance between having the view and maintaining privacy,” says Mayo, who used several architectural tricks to minimise the impact.

Dune House is designed around a courtyard, with a direct sightline across the interior living space through huge windows, allowing the owners to live outdoors and enjoy the vista while being somewhat screened from passers-by. Further privacy was achieved by clever use of angles, with the house set back slightly from the street and higher up, at the level of the original dune, rather than the level of the road. With the front garden terraced and the living spaces raised to the first floor, this eliminates the fishbowl effect suffered by similar homes at ground level.

This wider frontage gave the home a dominant presence on the streetscape, compelling Mayo to consider ways to present a softer and more sympathetic facade.

This wider frontage gave the home a dominant presence on the streetscape, compelling Mayo to consider ways to present a softer and more sympathetic facade. Wanting to avoid the featureless functionality of a huge garage door, he opted for a smaller door – slightly wider than a single – tucked discreetly in the shadows of the verandah. The door opens to a large garage with a turning bay, so there’s no shortage of room for cars, but narrowing the aperture allows more landscaping at the front of the property.

Just as Dune House appears part of the landscape, the brief for the interior was ‘a day at the beach’. “They wanted something that felt really restful, like a day at the beach – very light, bright and refreshing, with lots of soft textures,” explains interior designer Annique Heesen of Gezellig Interiors. This concept became the guiding principle behind every material choice. For example, the carpet was chosen for its resemblance to a jute beach bag, while the tiny mosaic bathroom tiles and minimalist pipe-like showerhead play on raw functionality.

Simple yet rich in texture, the palette of materials was curated to feel calm, cohesive and, above all, speak to the surroundings.

The location also influenced the choice of heating and cooling; knowing they would be opening the home to the ocean breeze at every opportunity, the homeowners shunned the more common HVAC system in favour of carefully considered cross ventilation and the subtle warmth of underfloor and passive heating from sunlight on stone floors.

Simple yet rich in texture, the palette of materials was curated to feel calm, cohesive and, above all, speak to the surroundings. “We took all the materials down to the beach – literally,” says Heesen. The tone of the dunes is captured on the exterior finishes: greyed Abodo timber, anodised steel and custom-commissioned bricks from Canterbury Clay Bricks, which had sand brushed over them before firing. The floors on the main level are limestone tiles, chosen for the visible fossils embedded in the stone, while pale timber has been used liberally throughout; bleached Alaskan cedar lines the ‘folded’ ceiling, emphasising its complex angles, while maple slatted screens appear throughout.

“The reason for the curves wasn’t aesthetics, it was flow,” says Heesen. “It was about bringing someone through the spaces in a really gentle way.”

These timber screens, used to divide spaces and veil storage, have an additional purpose in casting shadows – a clever element that gives a sense of movement and dynamism to Dune House. “There is something about shadow play, especially in a coastal environment where direct sun is actually quite harsh,” says Heesen. More shadows were cast by strategically placed posts within the home, and by the clients’ landscaping choices, which are dominated by plants that move in the wind and cast interesting shadows.

From a practical perspective, Dune House needed a great degree of flexibility, able to be reduced to a cosy home for two but with the capacity to accommodate multigenerational living. “It’s a large house, but the homeowners didn’t want it to feel too large or to have to walk through a significantly sized house all the time,” says Mayo. When it’s just the two owners, they can live completely within the first floor, which comprises the main living areas and the master bedroom, which, with its Clayworks-rendered walls and proliferation of curves, feels restful and cocooning. “The reason for the curves wasn’t aesthetics, it was flow,” says Heesen. “It was about bringing someone through the spaces in a really gentle way.”

From a practical perspective, Dune House needed a great degree of flexibility, able to be reduced to a cosy home for two but with the capacity to accommodate multigenerational living.

Having a home of two halves, in a sense, also allowed for a little aesthetic variety. “We had the opportunity to be a little bit bolder in our material choices upstairs,” says Heesen. While the homeowners wanted a restful sanctuary downstairs, the upstairs space indulges their sense of fun, which is expressed through elements including velvety green carpet, burgundy gloss shelves and, as one ascends the stairs, a Cordula Kafka chandelier with wavy ceramic sheets, appearing almost like paper blown along the beach.

While Dune House is awash with creative design moments and evocative materials, the primary aim for the homeowners was that the space felt relaxed. “It was really important to them that it wasn’t precious, that people could come in with sand on their feet and it wouldn’t matter,” says Heesen. Like a day at the beach, this is a space to unwind and relax.

Architecture by Architecture Bureau. Interior design by Gezellig Interiors. Build by JC Builders. Plant sourcing by Magnolia Design.