Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects has designed a holiday retreat called Hut on Sleds. The cabin, completed in 2011, is set in the small coastal settlement of Whangapoua, on the Coromandel Peninsula of New Zealand. Measuring a mere 40m² (431ft²), it accommodates a family of five.
The Coromandel beach site lies within the coastal erosion zone where all building must be removable. This requirement has here been interpreted literally: the hut is designed on two thick wooden sleds for movement back inland or across the beach and onto a barge.
The hut is a series of simple design moves. The form is reminiscent of a surf lifesaving or observation tower. The aesthetic is naturalistic, the unpainted timber evocative of wind and sand-blasted timber beach-side structures. The fittings and mechanics are industrial and exposed, the structure gutsy and expressed.
— Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects
Drawings:
Photographs by Simon Devitt
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