Kontiki House^-W012

Leonard Hobbins carried out this renovation of a beach cottage in Whiritoa, Coromandel for a young family.

The design takes cues from the vernacular of a seaside resort town cottage, and then begins to dissolve these traditional visual ideas in the articulation of different elements of the architectural treatment.

​The facade represents the pathological insecurity of conservatism, the defining characteristic of the architecture of a resort town. These controlled planes are disrupted in outbursts of colour where the facade is punctured or peeled away from the building.

Seaside kitsch, blue and white stripes are materialised as cladding panels and cover battens.