Holiday home | Architecture Now

Levity and gravity

Projects | John Walsh explores Omata Beach House, winner of the 2023 Sir Ian Athfield Award for Housing, by Herbst Architects and finds a pavilion on a plinth that seems as though it’s grown out of the land.

Houses Revisited: Lakeside connections

Projects | Architecture Page Henderson’s Taupo holiday house, first published in 2007, is a sensitive response to site and client requirements.

Memories, moments and artful planning: Breezeway House

Projects | Designed for a family to share with their friends, this engaging coastal holiday house embodies a collective memory of time spent by the beach.

The ‘C’ word: Escape to Kawau Island

Projects | Photographer Alex Wallace remembers an idyllic weekend at a Kawau Island bach, designed by Auckland-based ICR Studio.

Be my guest: Chimney House

Projects | A Danish kitchen design firm allows potential customers to holiday in homes equipped with its wares. We explore its latest abode, designed by David Thulstrup.

Sun sculpture

Projects | This Greek island holiday home combines the best of traditional architecture with modern, worldly comforts, textiles and interiors.

Surf and canopy: Costa Rica Tree House

Projects | Dreams of living in a tree house culminated in this Costa Rican vacation spot, dripping in verdure.

Mountain living: Roys Peak House

Projects | A contemporary Mason & Wales Architects holiday house in Wanaka pays homage to the ‘crib’, the classic South Island back-country tramping hut.

Houses Revisited: Happy camping

Projects | Return to a Copeland Associates home that draws on the tropes of the Kiwi beach settlement for a Coromandel holiday house.

Summer living: New York getaway

Projects | The revamped interiors of this Hamptons holiday home retain the sense of sophistication for which the area is known.

Redefining simple luxuries

Previews | The simplicity of the classic Kiwi bach has been brought into the 2020s by a cross-disciplinary design team that has curated an understated and modern take on tradition.