Architect Ken Crosson's award-winning 'hut on sleds' is for sale
Architect George Clarke of Amazing Spaces described it as “the most beautiful timber cabin”, with an open-sesame design that was “so simple, yet so clever”.
Designed by architect Ken Crosson, the “hut on sleds” is a multi award-winning holiday house at Whangapoua Beach on the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand that has just come onto the market for the first time.
Its apparent simplicity belies a lot of clever engineering behind the scenes. For this is a holiday house that can be completely closed up to form a secure, two-storey timber box. Or, with a clever winching system, a large wall can be raised and folded, like origami, to open up the house at the front. And shutters can be raised to form “eyebrows” that shade the windows.
Built from locally sourced macrocarpa timber, the 40 square-metre house sits on sleds that could be moved at a later date if a retreat from the beach is required.
But it is not only the sleds, winching system and double-height steel doors that command attention – there is also a rooftop lookout reached by a ladder and a trapdoor. Clarke cleverly called it a “classic example of blue-sky thinking”.
‘It has just gone crazy’
The holiday house, which sits on a prime 966 square-metre waterfront site, has been listed for sale by Lea Jurkovich of Bayleys Whitianga, who says in just two days she has had so many enquiries she is “up all night”. “It has just gone crazy,” she says.
Despite its apparent small size, the holiday house can accommodate a family of five. There is a triple-bed bunk room and a mezzanine main bedroom.
Structural elements are exposed in the timber-lined interior, which features a galley-style kitchen with ply cabinetry and stainless steel benchtop. There is even a woodburner for cosy winter nights.
Crosson Architects says sustainability is not just evident in the modest size of the holiday house, the materials and manual (if desired) winching system: “Apart from food delivery and non-recyclable waste removal, the hut was designed to function as a self-sustaining organism with rain-catchment tanks, a worm-tank waste system and separate potable and greywater tanks.”
And if you are wondering about those awards, the holiday house won the Best Small House award at the prestigious, international Architizer A+ awards. The judging panel said: “The small, but perfectly formed bach stands out with its fort-like exterior. Yet it magnificently transforms from an impenetrable macrocarpa-clad box – security is a factor in most beach homes – to a stylish and comfortable holiday home for a family of five.”
The holiday house has also won awards or commendations in New Zealand (including a national NZIA award), Australia, London and Korea.
The property will be auctioned on April 28, 2021.
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