I built this “house” in New Zealand as a retreat that I will go to for 4 months every year. (I live in Brooklyn and teach at Yale School of Architecture). I have very little disposable income so this needed to be as modest as possible; I could only afford a “shed” with one bedroom, but wanted to make sure that friends and family could visit. The solution was to build a platform that could hold 3 tents that would be the guest bedrooms. Kiwis have a tradition of visiting each other’s “baches” (country, usually beach, houses) immediately after Christmas by bringing tents for their accommodation; my solution provides for that kind of visit. So it was strange to me when my Kiwi friends wondered where on earth I got this idea for a platform with tents. Well, there was no flat land. The tents go up and break down easily, so when there are no guests, the platform becomes a sun/party/hangout deck.

The house proper is a long shed - dining, living, bedroom in a row - with a parallel utility bar of bathrooms, kitchen, and storage that runs along the length of these spaces. It faces the view. The tent platform is perpendicular to the house, facing north. The “L” that these two form directs attention to a pastoral landscapethat is uniquely “kiwi”. The design of the house and the tent/socialization platform are intended to mimic each other in their fundamentals - the same platform and roof for both, between which are different things (a house in the one case and tents/lounge space in the other).