This award-winning home on Waiheke Island is a house of high drama

Article by Home Magazine

This award-winning home has an incredible interior with polished black floors, black timber ceiling and striking furniture and finishes sourced from Asia

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Q&A with Lance Herbst of Herbst Architects

Owner Andrew Glenn sees an Asian influence in your work, and that’s certainly present here.
A lot of people see those influences in our work – it’s not deliberate, it’s just that we think about how wood goes together, which is what Japanese people do. Right from the start we talked about the lantern moniker – Andrew and Jonathan really liked that, and then we started talking about introducing a suggestion of an Asian influence in the house. The moon window came in around those discussions and seemed like an interesting thing to do.

Battens wrap the exterior of the bedrooms.
That’s always a big call with a client: we’re going to put bars in front of your windows – but Andrew and Jonathan got it. We’re always fighting this balustrade issue – on the one hand the screen takes away the need for a chunky upstand – but it also gives another version of the view, which isn’t the same thing as the room next door.

Gallery | 9 Photos
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Tell us about the catwalk – what’s the rationale?
You’ll see this in a lot of our buildings. If you start unpacking them, a lot of decisions are around the logic of putting something together. If you imagine the site without a house, the first thing we do is take the flat bit and put a retaining wall in place that forms the back support of the big pavilion. That big pavilion is where the concrete ends – and that’s where the little marble tiles are. That’s the earthbound part of the building – everything on it is articulated with earthy materials, concrete, tiles and basalt, and then becomes the pool. It gives you a striking point for the pavilion to go off. It becomes an ordering device as you move through the building.

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The view takes in the curved sweep of the beach and bay.

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From the bush below, the cantilevered house comes into outstanding relief, with the living area given a widescreen view across the Gulf.

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Custom-brass panelling is a striking feature of the kitchen.

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Rutherfurd Best and Glenn sourced much of the furniture from Asia. The 18th-century teak Dutch colonial table was found in Java and the bowl is Japanese ‘Imari’ porcelain. The repurposed school cabinet came from Java and Rutherfurd Best bought the ‘Meiji’ period ceramic pot years ago in London. The rattan chairs were custom made in Bali, with cushions made from antique Ikat fabric made in Sumba.

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The water feature in the courtyard is lined in a mosaic of muted tones.

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The brick-walled courtyard is a tranquil space of shade and dappled light on water.

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The moon window captures the view from courtyard to pool. The photograph above
the Qing dynasty porcelain bowl is by Fiona Pardington.

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Korean grass wallpaper by Aspiring Walls from Resene lines the walls in the main bedroom. The ‘Métier’ table lamp is from Restoration Hardware. Switches throughout the house are from Thom Electrical Accessories.