close to nature

It’s a fairly safe bet that a beach house bathroom is going to come into contact with some sand every once in a while. However, when designing his parents’ beach house at Muriwai, 30 minutes west of Auckland, Jason Bailey of Bailey Architects came up with a novel approach to stop sand being trekked from one end of the house to the other: the shower in the downstairs bathroom has an exterior door that opens directly onto the lower deck. This means bathers can come straight in from the beach and rinse off. His solution provides the accessibility and convenience of an outdoor shower, but with all the comfort and luxury of a full bathroom.

Jason’s parents divide their time between their Auckland apartment and the Muriwai beach house, which was built about 18 months ago. Spread over three levels, the home has bedrooms on the upper and lower floors, with living in the middle. This bathroom services the downstairs bedrooms and the design brief stipulated that it be simple and clean-looking with a connection to the outdoors.

Vanity unit: beech, designed by Jason Bailey, manufactured by Kitchen Link. Window and door joinery: Ryan Aluminium.

“They wanted some sort of view from every room in the house,” says Jason. “With the glazed door and glass louvres in the bathroom, you’re looking straight through the trees to the water.

“The house has quite a small footprint and the layout of the bathroom was the result of trying to get the best out of a reasonably constrained space,” he says.

The bathroom is long and narrow, with a granite-topped vanity unit running along one wall beneath a large mirror. Raised up on cylindrical legs to reveal more of the floor and help create the illusion of additional space in the room, the vanity features beechwood drawers and an open rack shelf system for towel storage. A large, white vessel handbasin sits on the granite top, adding a resort-type feel.

Jason says the intense mottled colourings of the granite were selected to complement the natural environment, especially the trees just beyond the deck. Elsewhere, the tones were kept neutral, so as not to compete with the view and to ensure a relaxed, restful ambience. The rear wall of the shower, like the splash above the vanity, is finished in white tiles in a simple stacked-brick pattern, while the floor, complete with underfloor heating, features larger, square tiles in a sandy shade.

A frameless glass screen divides the shower from the rest of the bathroom. Together with the glazed, opening door on the other side of the shower area, it helps increase the sense of space in the room and, more importantly, ensures an unobstructed line of sight to the deck and beach beyond. A narrow section of glass louvres beside the door provides natural ventilation and eliminates the need for an extraction fan.

While the idea of bathing in a glass-walled shower might not be everyone’s cup of tea, Jason insists that privacy is not an issue. The house is located in a very secluded spot and is surrounded by trees.

“It’s very private. The bathroom leads out onto a generous deck that faces due west and the land drops away steeply to the cliffs. You can come in off the beach all sandy, or dirty from the garden, and it acts like an outdoor shower. You can shower with the door open and feel like you’re outside looking out at the ocean.”

words: Leah Goodwin
pictures: Lucent*Media

Want to get your own free copy of future issues of habitat magazine?

Printed copies of habitat highlights are available from late March 2024 at Resene ColorShops and resellers, while stocks last. You can view back issues of habitat magazine online.

• Specifiers:

  • Earn CPD points reading this magazine – If you're a specifier, earn ADNZ or NZRAB CPD points by reading habitat magazine. Once you've read an issue request your CPD points via the CPD portal for ADNZ (for NZ architectural designers) or NZRAB (for NZ architects).  Join our specifier and trade database...

If you have an idea, project or story that you think would suit habitat, we’d love to hear from you. Please drop us an email with your details and include photos if submitting a project.

Sign up for a DIY card and Save! Australia | New Zealand