Eyrie, the wooden twin cabins by Chesire Architects, stand in stark contrast to the extravagant holiday homes popping up along the New Zealand coastline as of late. While given 1,500m2 (16,000 square feet) in Kaiwaka to work with, the architects decided on two 29m2 (312 square feet) cabins instead. Situated at the bottom of a hill, and it’s difficult to miss their boxy shapes and blackened wood exteriors. The strange appeal of these cabins, though, is its inaccessibility. There are no roads or pathways leading to the homes. Once you manage to reach them, you’ll also discover that there are no doors; instead, one must clamber over a stack of boulders and enter through an open window… which is exactly what the architects hoped to achieve. “We hoped that in subverting the shorthand language of building these little constructions might feel like something other than – and more than – houses.”
Photography: Jeremy Toth