Mangawhai holiday home
The great Kiwi bach is a focus for memorable family gatherings, although the get-togethers usually happen after it is built. In the case of the Malcolm family’s Mangawhai Heads bach, it brought mother, father and daughter together in the design and build process long before the project was finished.
Karen Malcolm, architectural designer from Malcolm Architectural Design and her daughter Jessica Malcolm, an architectural graduate now working for SGA, collaborated on the design while Master Builder John Malcolm, put together a team to build the 116sq m holiday home.
The family design and build team longed for a beach house that could accommodate immediate family, and overflow of extended family and friends during the holidays. The team agreed on an aesthetic that would stand modest in its surrounds yet felt light and airy inside, particularly on an overcast day. Karen’s love for skylights came in handy in achieving this ‘airy feel’, and they were sprinkled throughout the beach house accordingly.
The traditional ‘bach’ lean-to form was a concept explored for its cost-effective yet elegant form, and by taking inspiration from the ‘bach’ and sticking to a basic plan the team was able to achieve a design with a cost of under $300,000. A small budget and constraints from a difficult site inevitably resulted in a small compact plan on a narrow, undulating 1400sq m site provided with views of the Brynderwyn Hills. As the Malcolm family entertain large groups on occasion and often have visitors drop in during the weekend, the small plan had to be flexible enough to cater for these extra numbers as well as accommodate all the beach equipment used by the outdoorsy family.
The bach consists of open plan living spaces, three-bedrooms, two-bathrooms and is complemented by a shed like sleep-out, built and used by John while he constructed the beach house over a short period. The house is equipped with a 32sq m tandem garage to suit the narrow site, as well as 77sq m of partially covered decking. Karen says circulation space in the house was reduced so other spaces could be enlarged, “We stretched the plan to its limit so that all living spaces are flooded with all day sun, every room in the house has plenty of light and has a framed view; even the bathroom has a view of the sky.” The beach house feels a lot larger than its compact 116sq m size due to its high ceilings and much valued covered outdoor deck area – the design team initially intended it becoming an ‘in-between’ indoor and outdoor room with moveable walls.
A range of natural materials and colours were selected to keep within the aesthetic of the surrounding area. The chosen 6 Rib COLORSTEEL® cladding in ‘Ebony’ achieved this modest bach aesthetic, and Trimline COLORSTEEL® roofing, also in ‘Ebony”, was used for the mono pitch roof. Six skylights were placed over the bathroom, deck, bedroom, dining and kitchen areas, this created areas within the house with lots of light, as well as providing privacy to the main bathroom and a view of the sky from one of the bedrooms.
Powder coated aluminium louvres were introduced to the living areas and glass louvres to the master bedroom, to give a secure cross ventilation opening while the family are out at the beach and provide plenty of ventilation on the hot summer nights.
Karen adds, “To keep costs down the need for an engineer was eliminated by selecting glulam and HySpan engineered beams for the house.” Building, landscaping, and painting were done by our daughter Roxanna and other family members and friends.”
From a design perspective Karen says it was important to get the COLORSTEEL® cladding right and ensure all the facings were an even width around all the windows. “Often with COLORSTEEL® cladding the finished facings can become uneven around the windows depending on where the ribs of the cladding end. With long walls it is not always possible to work out exactly where these ribs will be due to the natural creep of the product while fixing, so planning exact window placement didn’t solve this issue. John suggested forming an opening 200mm larger than the windows, so this led to a solution where the window could then be moved slightly on site, to ensure the facings were an even width around the window.
“It’s the little details that we often notice and we wanted to get right, as this can make a huge difference in the quality and aesthetic of a building.”
“This idea was experimented with on a trial run on the shed that was to become an informal bunkroom, and was a success.”
Karen says, “The project was a bit unconventional in terms that John was involved early in the design process and Jessica was involved in the build, so they both had a bit to learn from each other”.
And they have produced a home that belies its tight budget “Friends and family absolutely love coming up to our bach, it always feels like a holiday when we are here”.
“Considering this was a low cost house it packs in a lot of higher spec features, including skylights, oak flooring, full tiled showers, and plywood soffits” says Karen. “We have had a lot of people drive past, stop and take photos as it’s a bit different and unexpected for its location.”