Perched to overlook a bay, this considered rebuild now shines as a serene, light-filled home with space for reflection and renewal.
From the water’s edge in Akaroa, the house catches the eye like a glimmer on the shoreline. By day, it sits quietly among the trees, its pale timber cladding silvering off like driftwood. By night, light glows through the timber screens, a soft beacon across the harbour. Rebecca and Mark Herring call it home, a place that began as a holiday project and has grown into the centre of their lives.
When they first bought the property, it held a 1960s bach: long, low and patched through with casual renovations. “We did bits and pieces to it, like add an indoor bathroom,” says Mark. Earthquake repairs and asbestos testing tipped the balance. “Our builder suggested pulling it down and starting again and, once we looked at what would be left, it made sense,” he says. What began as a renovation became a full-scale rebuild, with the couple deciding that, if they were going to invest in something new, it should be designed for permanence.
Builder Clive Barrington connected them with architects Prue Johnstone and Mike Callaghan, who found the site both captivating and complex. “It faces south across the harbour, which isn’t ideal in terms of sunlight. The views, though, are incredible,” says Mike. “We wanted to orient the house so it could enjoy both the northern aspect and the southern outlook.”
Their design splits the programme into two simple pods, for living and sleeping, linked by a breezeway. This creates a sheltered spine that can open entirely to the elements or close down with shutters, shifting in character with the seasons.
At the entry, a spiral stair coils upward from the lower level, where guest rooms, a laundry and Rebecca’s studio sit tucked into the slope. Above, the living and main bedroom hold the elevated position, with the harbour opening wide before them. “Once you’re up there, it’s remarkably flat for a hillside site,” says Prue. “There’s a generosity in the volume — not in excess floor area.”
High ceilings lift the living space into something expansive, tall glazing framing views across the harbour. A corner of the living pod peels back to amplify this drama. A small porthole window in the kitchen offers a counterpoint, framing farmland like a painting beside the sweep of sea and sky. “I make my coffee there in the mornings and watch the sheep or the birds,” says Rebecca. “It’s a tiny detail that gives so much joy.”
Front and back terraces allow the choice to watch boats at the ramp or retreat behind the house when the southerly rises. A fireplace and spa keep the back deck in use through winter. “It gives us options depending on the weather, which you need in Akaroa,” says Mark.
Their brief carried traces of Palm Springs, with pavilions, light materiality and an ease between indoors and out. “They came to us with Californian modernist references,” says Mike. The architects translated this spirit into the Aotearoa context, with timber cladding rather than stucco, shutters to temper the sun, and concrete blockwork to give the house a foothold on the hillside.
A dark, moody scheme was on the table at first. Rebecca recalls standing in the car park as the bach was being demolished and realising she couldn’t live in a black house. “I rang Mike and Prue and said, ‘I can’t do it’. We flipped the whole palette then and there.”
Pale timber in a driftwood tone became the finish, silvering off outside while staying soft inside. “It has become this calming backdrop,” says Rebecca. “For me as an artist, it’s like a canvas: I can hang something moody in winter, something lighter in summer, and the house just holds it.”
In one of the downstairs rooms, Rebecca paints with the southerly light and shifting harbour as her constant companions. “I don’t paint from photographs, I paint emotion,” she says. Canvases capture seas and clouds in flux, drawn from an intimacy with the landscape beyond the glass. What began as therapy has grown into a near full-time practice, with works shown locally and commissioned further afield.
Light plays a considered role in Mark’s hands, too. As director of lighting company MHL, he has tuned the house with subtlety, using concealed fittings to highlight timber, warm washes to soften the living areas and shutters that glow outward at night. “It’s one of the things people always comment on,” he says.
The couple often arrive midweek and work remotely, letting their time here slide seamlessly into the weekend. The kitchen island doubles as a leaner, encouraging gatherings around food and wine. “At home, people always ended up standing around the island, so we designed for that here,” says Mark. Meals drift from the bench into the breezeway and often end up by the barbecue outside. “Some nights it feels like the whole house is part of the cooking,” Rebecca adds.
Nothing here is oversized. Rooms are modest, planned for use rather than scale. Generosity comes through height and outlook, with ceilings and expansive glazing amplifying the experience, without enlarging the footprint. “We believe the most sustainable thing we can do is design smaller, smarter houses,” says Prue.
That restraint keeps a bach-like informality, even as the couple now use the house as their main residence. Collections of feathers, shells and artworks dot the spaces, each with its own story. Their dog wanders through, guests drop in and the breezeway fills with laughter on barbecue nights.
For the architects, it was among their first new-builds as a practice, and seeing it lived in remains a highlight. “We often pop by when we’re in Akaroa,” says Mike. “It’s special to see Rebecca and Mark really inhabiting the spaces, and how the design has enabled their life.”
The Herrings’ experience has been just as transformative. What began as a bach renovation is now a permanent base, shaping their work and their days. Rebecca paints in the studio she never imagined she’d need. Mark often cooks for friends with the day’s catch. Together they sit on the deck, looking across the harbour to the historic lighthouse on the opposite shore, while their own house shines softly back.
Words Alice Lines
Photography Sam Hartnett
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