ProjectsResidentialAuckland2023

Tidewater House

A house on a tidal inlet that stands on eleven legs and lets the water pass beneath it twice a day.

Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Completion: 2023
Built area: 380 m²
Plot size: 1,860 m²
Status: Completed
Client: Private

The project

ServicesArchitecture, Interiors

StructureSteel frame on driven piles, timber floors

Flood level1.8 m above king tide

EngineerHolmes Consulting

Install6 days, by barge

The site floods. Instead of fighting the tide with walls, the house is lifted on slender steel legs so that the inlet runs under the living room. At high water the house appears to float; at low water the mudflats become its garden.

The plan is a long bar, one room deep, so every space has water on one side and bush on the other. Sliding screens of cedar batten control glare and privacy from the boats that pass at the weekend.

The structure was prefabricated in Hamilton and installed in six days from a barge.

The glass living room lit at dusk — The living room at dusk, water beneath.Fig. 01

Living room in neutral tones — Living room, cedar screens drawn back.Fig. 02

Plan: one room deep, water to the north.Fig. 03

Sunlit kitchen counter — The kitchen at low tide.Fig. 04

A reading chair by the window — A reading chair over the inlet.Fig. 05

Approach

Design for the water, not against it. The tide sets the section.

Prefabrication kept the site untouched: no excavation, no concrete beyond the piles.

Recognition

NZIA Auckland Architecture Award 2024

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