At Tutukaka the outdoor dining space is the heart of the house. The brief was built around it — a covered area between the bedroom wing and the living wing that draws the two parts of the house together without fully enclosing them.

The two wings are deliberately separated: bedrooms to one side, living to the other, connected by the covered outdoor space in between. It's a layout that makes Tutukaka feel like exactly the kind of place it is — somewhere you come to be outside, and the house is designed around that fact.

Deep overhangs protect each wing from the summer sun while keeping the outdoor dining area usable year-round. An outdoor shower completes the picture. Materials are deliberately unfussy — the site and the setting do the work.

The project has been submitted for House of the Year 2026.