Grand Designs NZ 'boyhood fantasy' on Slipper Island listed for sale
Back in 2017, Grand Designs NZ featured solo dad Sky Mason building a large holiday home on Slipper Island, 10km offshore from Tairua on the Coromandel Peninsula.
The build was a “boyhood fantasy” for the Tairua property developer (a local identity). At the start of the project Mason said he loved the idea of “getting away from the mainland, the hustle and bustle, the work and the problems”.
“It’s a very splendid isolation. Every time I come here it’s like the first time I arrived. It blows you away.”
And it was a fascinating show, not least because of the difficulties imposed by building offshore. Builder Frank Dyer moved across for six months, leaving his partner and three children, one just a baby. “My partner definitely wasn’t enthused,” he said at the time.
Now, the house Mason put his heart and soul into is for sale. Listing agent Gregers Andersen of NZ Sotheby’s International Realty Bay of Plenty says Mason has changed his plans and is “moving in a new direction”.
His 224 square-metre off-grid house, which is powered by solar panels on the roof and a commercial-grade generator, was designed by architectural designer Lynda Vugler. The designer camped out on the site, endured a precarious long drop on a 45-deg slope, and got to study where the sun rose and set – for longer than expected, because she was marooned by the weather.
To maximise the site and the beautiful sea view, the three-bedroom, three-bathroom house hunkers down into the landscape, following the curve of the hill. A continuous deck steps up and down between the different levels.
The multifaceted design makes for interesting angled rooms, all designed to capture the best outlook, which led Moller to say it was “almost like stepping onto a boat”.
Mason has expanded on a nautical theme, with carved sea creatures handmade in Hawaii – he says he “bought out the whole shop”.
The Grand Designs show had an appropriate ending, which you can see in the video above, with gigantic crayfish going into the pot.
NZ Sotheby’s International Realty has a deadline sale date for the 5348 square-metre property of June 24, 2021.
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