MARAETAI HOUSE Coastal New-Build, Maraetai Beach

Maraetai doesn't ask for much from its architecture. The beach does most of the work — the light, the water, the particular quality of stillness that draws people out this way in the first place. The job of a coastal home is simply to get out of the way and let it in.

Macfie Architecture designed this contemporary new-build around exactly that principle. The brief called for a sophisticated yet low-maintenance coastal retreat — a home that would embrace the setting without being consumed by it, and that would look as right in thirty years as it does today.

Traditional weatherboards ground the exterior in the coastal vernacular, while inside, walls adorned with blonde vertical timber bring warmth and texture to the interior without competing with the views beyond. Expansive sliders run throughout the living spaces, dissolving the boundary between inside and out and ensuring the beach is always present, whatever the weather.

Four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and two indoor and outdoor entertainment areas give the home the generosity a coastal retreat demands — room enough for family, for guests, and for the long unhurried days that Maraetai was made for.

Project Scope - concept design, developed design, resource consent, building consent, on-site monitoring.