Inside The World’s Most Secret House Built Into a Mountain (House Tour)

A secret house nestled into a grassy rock escarpment, Seascape is a romantic honeymoon cottage set within a tiny South Pacific cove. In a deeply romantic conception of a humble beachside cottage, Patterson Associates attempts to create feelings of stillness, harmony and connection.

Seascape is ensconced above a rocky cove on a sprawling 4000-acre farm on New Zealand’s South Island. So remote, most people arrive at this secret house via helicopter or a long, winding farm track.

The secret house is humble, designed to exist harmoniously within the pristine cove it inhabits. The house itself is small, with just three rooms – a lobby, a combined living and sleeping area and a bathroom. It features an undulating glass wall that offers a 180-degree view of powerful, crashing waves, just metres away.

Seascape is designed as a place for couples to retreat to; the brief embedded in a kind of fantasy of a lovers' cave. Designed for only two occupants and simple in its arrangement, Seascape celebrates the simple rituals of life as a couple; bathing, sleeping, eating and connecting. This secret house is a vehicle to allow people to connect with each other and nature.

Complementing a compact and simple floorplan, the views are all-encompassing and make the space feel much larger than its actual size. An interlocking geometric facade allows views both of the bay and out to rocky spires.

Seascape is built using all-natural, local materials, including in-situ poured concrete floors and an earth-turfed roof. Notably, the home is constructed from rock quarried from the farm where it resides. With no way of getting a concrete truck to the site, all the concrete was mixed and poured by hand. The home is lined with horizontal macrocarpa wood, forming integrated joinery, wall and ceiling panels that soften the interior space both aesthetically and acoustically. Natural materials are complemented by pared-back, minimal furnishings that are mainly sourced from the locale.

Seascape’s design is also informed by nature from a very pragmatic standpoint. A large wall of double-glazed, low e-glass sits under a precast concrete earthquake shell, while shatterproof steel mullions utilise earthquake-resistant sliding heads. The structure’s integration into the escarpment above also protects occupants from falling debris. Moreover, “the wood is a reference to the ecology of the peninsula and what has been lost and here, we have used it sparingly as a liner. But it is also as a reference to the replanting and reforestation program that is in its infancy at the moment,” says Andrew Patterson, director at Patterson Associates. The home is self-sustainable, relying on on-site water harvesting and wastewater treatment.

Patterson Associates designs a secret house that is just as much a part of the landscape as it is a shelter. “Our philosophy reflects a New Zealand philosophy,” says Patterson. By tapping into the idea of connection through the natural world, this deeply moving cottage embodies what we all strive for in our homes and lives – a sense of belonging. For Patterson, the greatest joy about the project is staying there himself and experiencing this deep, unwavering affinity with nature.

00:00 - Introduction to the World’s Most Secret House
01:31 - The Layout and Aspect of the House
02:11 - Accessing the Remote Location
02:58 - An Experience Designed for Two People
05:02 - The Design Influence
05:29 - Sourcing Materials from the Site
07:12 - The Philosophy of Patterson Architects
08:01 - Favourite Aspects

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Photography by Samuel Hartnett.
Architecture by Patterson Associates.
Interior design by Jenny Anderson Interiors.
Build by Hoogervorst Builders.
Filmed and edited by O&Co. Homes.
Production by The Local Production.

Location: South Island, New Zealand

The Local Project acknowledges Māori as tangata whenua and Treaty of Waitangi partners in Aotearoa New Zealand. We recognise the importance of Indigenous peoples in the identity of our respective countries and continuing connections to Country and community. We pay our respect to Elders, past and present and extend that respect to all Indigenous people of these lands.

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