Tucked into the bush-clad foothills of the Waitakere Ranges, the Forest House by Fearon Hay paints a picture of a rural lifestyle on the edge of the city. The owners grow their own vegetables, butcher their own meat and make their own wine, and have built a house and workshop fit to handle their young and active family. Part-farm house, part-manor house, the assembly has a timelessness enhanced by classic forms and natural materials.
Twin gables create an elegant language of rain-shedding roofs. Their wide eaves and verandas recall other Pacific Rim architectures – the generous roof canopies of traditional and contemporary Japanese architecture, and the light-weight thatched roofs of the Pacific Islands. They speak of shelter, protection and enclosure – a foil to the surrounding rainforest, the beating sun, heavy rain, and year-round westerlies blowing in from the Tasman Ocean.
Read the full story in Habitus issue #34, available now.
Photography by Simon Wilson
Styling by Amelia Holmes
