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George Clarke’s Homes in the Wild US Season 1 Episode 1
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FunTranscript
00:00From the windswept cliffs of Australia's coastline to the ancient silence of the New Zealand bush.
00:11That is without any shadow of a doubt. One of the most amazing journeys I've ever been on.
00:19I'll venture to places where the landscape still calls the shots.
00:24Every decision is shaped by the elements.
00:34And the isolation.
00:36Look how beautiful this is. That is unbelievable.
00:42What I've discovered isn't just clever design. It's passion.
00:48This is a healing house. It's like our marriage.
00:52It's creativity. Looks like some alien ship that's landed from outer space.
01:00And it's survival. On an island that doesn't have a corner store.
01:05You can't just shoot down and get a little side of something.
01:09Because out here, you meet a different kind of person.
01:14Friend or foe? Definitely friend.
01:18Daring. I want Pat's house. I want her house. I want her shower. And I want her bathtub.
01:24Innovative.
01:28And deeply connected to the land they live on.
01:33My grandfather must have really loved my grandmother to have built a room like this for her.
01:40Shall we move on? Because I'm going to cry.
01:46Join me, George Clarke, and together we'll discover some of New Zealand and Australia's wildest hauls.
01:53Just off the coast of New Zealand is a place where the Pacific Ocean never rests.
02:12And the land still feels wild.
02:16A remote weather-beaten paradise shaped by the sea.
02:22And by solitude.
02:27And to really crank the anxiety up a notch, I'm travelling there on this tiny plane.
02:41I'm heading to Altair, Great Barrier Island.
02:50I've dreamt of coming to this place.
02:54A thriving off-grid community nestled in an ecological paradise.
03:00I'm on a journey to meet the fearless pioneers who've carved out homes and lives
03:12in one of the most unpredictable corners of the world.
03:17Great Barrier Island is 285 square kilometres of rolling wilderness.
03:36Tucked away behind the island's eastern shoreline is an isolated holiday home.
03:42Accessible only at low tide.
03:45You ready for this?
03:48Because it's going to be a bit bumpy.
03:55Oh, not that!
03:57I could have done with that tractor.
04:04It's fantastic.
04:06You've got this beautiful estuary.
04:10Surrounded by the most amazing nature.
04:15Oh, my God, look at that.
04:22That is one heck of a house.
04:24A tented structure is the last thing I expected to see on this weather-beaten island.
04:36But there's clearly a story behind it.
04:38And I'm hoping owner Simon can help me understand the method behind the madness.
04:47Simon.
04:48George, welcome.
04:49Very nice to meet you. How are you?
04:50Yeah, I'm pleased to meet you, sir. I'm great, thanks. How are you?
04:51I'm very, very, very happy to be here.
04:53Welcome to the Opera House.
04:54It looks like it's landed from outer space.
04:57It's so futuristic.
04:58It is quite unusual, isn't it?
05:03Company director Simon and his young family acquired this unconventional holiday home post-build in 2010.
05:11A two-bedroom, two-bathroom build with one very intriguing backstory.
05:22I mean, that is one incredible position to look at the building.
05:25It's curve after curve after curve.
05:28Yeah, right.
05:29The architect, Greg Noble, he originally was a great admirer of Native North American architecture.
05:38And his original sketches of this were of a teepee-like structure.
05:42Oh, really?
05:43So hence the use of an endoskeleton.
05:46Plus it has a riv up here with the solar panels on top.
05:52As you can see, it's a complete tension structure.
05:55So these stainless steel wire ropes down here are integral to the structure.
05:59If you cut those cables, the whole thing will kind of pop back, wouldn't it?
06:02Yeah.
06:03A lot of people do ask, well, does it open up right now?
06:05And I'm like, only in emergencies.
06:06That's not a good thing.
06:09Did it take long to build?
06:11Well, I think a lot of the time and effort was in the original fabrication.
06:15Yeah.
06:17Those ribs, they were manufactured in Wellington.
06:19They put it together three or four times down there before they put it on a barge.
06:23Oh, really?
06:24Yeah.
06:25When it actually came on site, my understanding is it only took four days to put the tensioned
06:29structure in place.
06:32That's pretty amazing.
06:33Yeah.
06:34Did you just think, I need to have that?
06:36Yeah.
06:37Did you fall in love with this straight away?
06:38Yeah, we bought it on the same day.
06:39Did you?
06:40Yeah.
06:41Did you?
06:42Basically, yeah.
06:45I mean, today's a very calm, beautiful, warm day.
06:48But this building must have to really withstand the elements through the year.
06:51Yeah, absolutely.
06:52Absolutely.
06:53So, if you go east from here, there's not much between here and Chile.
06:55So, when the storms come in from the east, there's a lot of fetch and they can be massive
06:59storms.
07:00Sounds brutal.
07:01It is brutal at times, yeah.
07:02And I call it atmospheric salt.
07:05You get a lot of foam and spray and what have you that basically comes in.
07:10And that's why you've really got to maintain your places out here because salt, you know,
07:15obviously is the great destroyer.
07:17Have you ever been inside it when it's been battered?
07:19Yeah, absolutely.
07:20It's good fun.
07:21It's good fun.
07:22Yeah.
07:23Well, it's...
07:24I love the positivity.
07:25There's plenty of noise and there's lots of board games.
07:28It's just spectacular.
07:29Yeah, love it.
07:30Can we go inside now?
07:31Yeah, please.
07:32Come and take a look.
07:45It's one of the most unique houses I've ever seen.
07:55Very, very clever piece of elegant structural design.
08:03It feels cavernous, but it also feels really intimate.
08:08Yeah, well, it's very much an open plan structure, even though we refer to it in different ways.
08:14So you've got zones.
08:15Zones.
08:16You've zoned everything.
08:17Yeah.
08:18So you've got a kind of chill-out seating zone.
08:20You've got your kitchen zone.
08:23I love the fireplace, by the way.
08:25That must belt out the heat.
08:26It really does.
08:31You're using it like an entertaining hall, isn't it?
08:34Yeah.
08:35It's like a little concert hall.
08:37You've got music playing in here.
08:39You've got friends and family over, kids running around.
08:41It's a single volume space.
08:43Well, the acoustics are very good in here, actually.
08:45I wouldn't claim to be an expert on it, but it seems that way to me.
08:48So when we get the stereo set up and you're playing some music, it's good fun.
08:53Just stand there for me a second while I do this little test.
09:04That's it.
09:06You feel the tension.
09:07You've got him.
09:08My God!
09:09When I hit that there, I can hear the sound going all the way through the fabric and reverberating
09:17around the space.
09:18Yeah.
09:19I mean, that's like some sort of sound of Star Wars.
09:23You can feel the tension inside the space.
09:28You can feel that it's being kind of stretched and pulled and anchored down.
09:33It's a really clever piece of structural design.
09:37You've got these kind of big steel sections running through in these channels, which then
09:41connects to the bottom of those beautiful ribbed skeletal pieces of steel.
09:46And it straps the entire thing down to the ground.
09:48I love it.
09:49I love the honesty of it.
09:50I love the fact that you can see all the structure everywhere.
09:53Every single bolt, every single bracket.
09:58And it just feels like you're in an elegant piece of engineering.
10:03Can we wander up your staircase?
10:05Yeah, please come out and see us.
10:10What a position to stand in.
10:12Oh, that's fantastic, that.
10:15Absolutely beautiful.
10:22Seeing the home from the second story, I get a different perspective.
10:27There's not a single internal door, window or even wall that touches the membranous shell.
10:35Even the bedrooms are separated from the main living space by only a curtain.
10:42And is this your main bedroom?
10:44Yeah.
10:45Welcome.
10:46This is the master bedroom.
10:47Look at the round bed.
10:48Yeah.
10:49Bit of a nod to the glamping thing.
10:51Yeah.
10:52Very, very posh glamping, mate.
10:53Yeah.
10:54I mean, you're not roughing it in this house at all.
10:58And I love the fact that you've got this contrast between the membrane that side, which is really light and bright.
11:04And when you come in here, you've got this amazing timber cladding.
11:07Yeah.
11:08Just arching over the entire space.
11:09It just softens it a little bit, doesn't it?
11:11It does.
11:12It does feel like a different space.
11:14It's an unusual house to live in, isn't it?
11:16There's not much privacy.
11:17There's not much privacy, but we've learnt to love it.
11:20But you've got to adapt, haven't you?
11:21Yeah.
11:23On the barrier, you do end up with quite colourful people because it is a different environment.
11:34There's no reticulated electricity, no reticulated sewage.
11:38You're responsible for your own water.
11:41So you get a lot of resourceful people and people who do things, you know, in a different way.
11:47You're thinking differently.
11:49Yeah.
11:50You're living differently.
11:51And when you're in your house, you want it to feel different to what your city house might feel like.
11:55That's right.
11:57It's a testament to the locals that they so readily embrace challenges that many mainlanders would consider a roadblock.
12:07But from where I'm standing, that freedom seems to foster a real sense of individuality in their design.
12:17George, come into the ensuite.
12:22Oh, that's amazing.
12:25Which opens up to the rear of the property.
12:31Oh, that's not a bad view at all, is it?
12:35And this is basically your bathroom window, but with no glass in it.
12:36That's right.
12:37Completely open to the elements.
12:38Yeah.
12:39Yeah.
12:40I love the contrast between the front of the building and the back.
12:41The front's all about glass and the curves and the membrane and very, very light and delicate.
12:45And then the back is very vertical, very solid.
12:46Yeah.
12:47It's a complete contrast.
12:48Yeah.
12:49It's a complete contrast.
12:50Yeah.
12:51And you don't really have the exposed steel here.
12:52No, no.
12:53Everything's covered up.
12:54Yeah.
12:55You're right.
12:56It just seems like it's one of those buildings.
12:57that seems completely different.
12:58to everything around it.
12:59But it's still massively different.
13:00Yeah.
13:01You're right.
13:02It just seems like it's one of those buildings that seems completely different to everything
13:06around it.
13:07But it's still massively connected with landscape, nature and the elements.
13:08Yeah.
13:09It feels so different.
13:10It's very solid.
13:11Very solid.
13:12Yeah.
13:13It's a complete contrast.
13:14Yeah, that's right.
13:15And you don't really have the exposed steel here.
13:16No, no.
13:17Everything's covered up.
13:18Yeah.
13:19You're right.
13:20It just seems like it's one of those buildings that seems completely different to everything
13:27around it.
13:28But it's still massively connected with landscape, nature and the elements.
13:32Yeah.
13:33You feel so protected in this house.
13:40Now the big idea for this building is obviously that beautiful shell-like curve.
13:48But you have to follow those big ideas through to the smallest detail.
13:52And this staircase nails it.
13:54It's a beautiful sweeping curve that opens out as you go down the stairs.
13:59It's a feat of structural engineering.
14:02You've got steel work, lightweight aluminium.
14:04But what I love most about it is this very delicate, gentle touch of the curved wall.
14:11The whole thing just looks light and cantilevered.
14:16I love this house so much.
14:23It's a testament to architectural ingenuity, engineering precision.
14:28And it demonstrates brave, bold design thinking on a remote wild island.
14:33Standing guard off New Zealand's eastern coastline is the stunningly unspoiled oasis that is Great Barrier Island.
14:52And settled among these vistas, there were some wonderfully eccentric and eclectic characters.
15:05And it's busy from all over the world.
15:08Hi, are you all there?
15:12Hello, George. How are you?
15:13Lovely to meet you. How are you?
15:15I'm very well.
15:16Oh, this is great.
15:17Oh, thank you.
15:18What a wonderful pub.
15:19What we love about it is that it's the real McCoy.
15:22You know, it could be the kind of pub you'd find in any little town and village in Ireland.
15:26And this used to be a house? Is that right?
15:28Yeah.
15:29It's probably the oldest house on the island.
15:31From when, do you think?
15:32Built around 1890.
15:331890?
15:34Yes.
15:35So I think with these old buildings, you're merely the custodian for your time with them.
15:38Absolutely.
15:39And you just try and elevate them and pass them on in good shape.
15:42Absolutely.
15:43Well, I can't wait to find out your story.
15:45It's a good story.
15:46Can I have a pint of Guinness?
15:47Certainly. I'd love to pour you a pint of Guinness.
15:49An Irish pub isn't just a place to enjoy your pint.
15:55It's a cornerstone of community life.
15:58And as the head publican, Orla has a responsibility to uphold the integrity of those rich Irish traditions.
16:09And with all our sights, we can get a little shamrock on the top.
16:12Look at that, a little shamrock.
16:14Soon, may the world come.
16:17Drink the sugar and tea and rum.
16:20One day, when the talking is done.
16:22The day, I'll leave and go.
16:24Thank you, welcome.
16:26How in the air did you arrive on Great Barrier?
16:31I was on holidays in Bermuda visiting a friend of mine.
16:34And I met this New Zealand boat builder and he told me about this wonderful paradise island
16:39that was the most beautiful place in the world.
16:41And I said, well, I better go and have a look.
16:43And you came here and...
16:44So, about 25 years ago.
16:46And I've lived most of my life here on Great Barrier.
16:50It's an unusual kind of place.
16:52Very few of us have extended connections here.
16:56So, therefore, it's a very special little community.
16:59Everybody looks out for everybody.
17:00They're fabulous.
17:01And, you know, if somebody had told me that I would live on an off-grid island
17:05without power or running water or mod cons,
17:09I would have said, you've got to be joking.
17:11But it was a big change.
17:12But I loved it.
17:13Off-grid, running a pub.
17:15Totally off-grid.
17:16How does that work?
17:17We are actually the only solar-powered Irish pub in the world.
17:20Is that official?
17:21That's official.
17:22Our neighbour, Peter Blackwell, who is one of the pioneering families,
17:27he's made this incredible investment to create a little mini-grid.
17:32And he supplies us with power.
17:35On a busy night, we feed up to 300 people a night here,
17:39so it's a busy pub.
17:40In the past, we would have run a big smelly diesel generator
17:43for 16 or 18 hours a day.
17:45Now what you hear is...
17:50You can hear the cacas, you see the bird life,
17:52you see, you know, all kinds of things happening here.
17:55It's really amazing. It's a wonderful collaboration.
17:58So, if the power runs out and the Guinness is rubbish,
18:02it's his fault.
18:03It's his fault.
18:04It's definitely not mine.
18:07I love that.
18:08Well, thanks for sharing that story.
18:09That's fantastic.
18:10You're welcome.
18:11And we should definitely toast the fact that you are the only
18:14off-grid, solar-powered Irish pub...
18:16In the world.
18:17In the world.
18:18That's it.
18:19Drink to that.
18:20Cheers.
18:21Before the luxuries of tap bears and solar panels, people out here were living off the land.
18:34Settling in areas like Tryphena, the location of my next wild home.
18:40Years ago, this island was established as a place where people could escape their normal life, unplug and go off-grid.
18:52That still remains true today.
18:54I'm about to meet Roger, a long-term resident who did just that and built himself a very unique house.
19:01Roger, how are you?
19:02Very well, thank you.
19:03Lovely to see you, sir.
19:04Yes.
19:05Yes, sir.
19:06Yes, sir.
19:07Yes, sir.
19:08Yes.
19:09Yes.
19:10This is fabulous.
19:13Very well, thank you.
19:14Lovely to see you, sir.
19:15Yes, sir.
19:16Yes.
19:17Yes.
19:18Yes.
19:19Yes.
19:20This is fabulous.
19:23This is fabulous!
19:33So how did it all come about?
19:36In 1972, a group of seven of us bought this piece of land.
19:45105 and a half acres.
19:47And that was for you all to live together?
19:49That was what we thought we were going to do, but at that point we were all very young.
19:53So by the time some of us came to actually live here,
19:57we had children underway and all that sort of thing.
20:00Yeah, things changed.
20:01Things changed, yeah.
20:04In a nice way, it all feels a bit hippie.
20:06Yeah, a lot of people would see it that way.
20:08For us, I think what we really wanted to be was pioneers.
20:15And why a circular house?
20:17The circles started out as just an idea, a figment of my imagination.
20:22And you'd never built a house for yourself before?
20:25When I designed it, I'd never done any building at all.
20:27So I actually got a job for three different builders,
20:30when then I realised that I should never have done it in the first place.
20:33Why? Why?
20:34Because I sort of realised that I was faced with all these complications
20:38that previously I'd been kind of gung-ho about.
20:41I just love that you say, I like circles, I'm young,
20:46I've never built anything like this before.
20:48That simple?
20:49Yeah, all of us both, yeah.
20:51Not simple to build.
20:53Can we have a look inside?
20:54Sure, come on.
20:55Come on.
20:56Come on.
20:59Roger, it's beautiful.
21:04What a gorgeous, gorgeous space that is.
21:09I love that skylight.
21:10I can see why you fell in love with circles.
21:15You're kind of embraced by the architecture.
21:19The hub of the home, this central circular space has been designed
21:23to invite a sense of privacy,
21:26while still celebrating those expansive views out to the Horaki Gulf.
21:31Did you build everything?
21:37Yes.
21:38Everything?
21:39Yes.
21:40This area is pretty unconventional.
21:43It's all built out of 6x2s on the walls
21:45and the tapered ceiling pieces are 6x2s cut diagonally
21:50and everything has been tongue-in grooves.
21:53There are 180 individual lengths of timber
22:00that make up this spectacular conical ceiling.
22:06Constructed back in 1975,
22:08Roger designed and built this rather complicated feature
22:12completely solo.
22:17Bringing it to life in just a few short days.
22:20All of this essentially is only 50mm thick.
22:26It's just 50mm thick?
22:28All of it.
22:29And then on the outside of that,
22:31we put the stucco which is about 20-25mm.
22:34So it's very thin.
22:36It is, yeah.
22:37But this is a building that must get battered by the elements.
22:40It's incredibly strong.
22:42We've had all kinds of cyclones come through here
22:44and it's never moved at all.
22:46Well, it's strong because of its form.
22:48Because you can imagine when it's been hit by the winds,
22:50the winds are just going round the circle
22:52rather than hitting a flat face.
22:54That's very clever.
22:55Well, it hadn't luck.
22:58Definitely luck.
23:00Do you know what?
23:01I have so many kind of mixed feelings when I stand in the space
23:03because it harks back to many different forms of architecture.
23:07I mean, obviously the yurt is an obvious one,
23:11but I could be standing in a mini chapel.
23:13Do you know what I mean?
23:14When you've got the coloured glass above and it's all in white,
23:18it feels like it could be a very spiritual space.
23:22That definitely wouldn't have come from me.
23:29Despite the lack of divine intervention,
23:32Roger managed to design and build not just one circular space,
23:37but three.
23:40One circle dedicated to living and dining
23:43and two more as the home's original bedrooms.
23:47Oh, what a difference.
23:53So was this the original look in all three circles?
23:56Yes, it was.
23:57Just polyurethane that was how we started.
24:02It's gorgeous because you get all the knots and all the grain.
24:04It just feels a little bit warmer.
24:09And what's this room?
24:11This was the master bedroom.
24:12So you had the kids in that circle.
24:15Yeah.
24:16This was your main bedroom.
24:18Yeah.
24:19Beautiful bedroom.
24:21With a growing young family
24:23and a promising career as a pretty handy builder,
24:26you'd think Roger would have stopped there.
24:30Well, you'd be wrong.
24:32By the mid-1980s,
24:42Roger's family had outgrown their humble three-circle sanctuary
24:46on Great Barrier Islands.
24:49So he undertook the new challenge of a circular extension.
24:55An additional bedroom, bathroom and study,
24:59as well as an entire guest wing
25:03down this set of naturally-curved stairs.
25:07It's a staircase down to a whole of the worlds of accommodation.
25:12Crikey!
25:14Another bedroom in here.
25:17Loads of storage.
25:19And then another bedroom.
25:21I'll tell you what, this house is unbelievably deceptive.
25:28It's way bigger than I thought.
25:30I think it's absolutely beautiful that Roger's developed and expanded the house,
25:37made it grow as his family grew.
25:39But this life is worlds apart from where Roger started.
25:50Island life in the 1970s, it must have been more challenging.
25:55When we first came here, we had kerosene lamps for lighting
25:59and then we got a really, really small solar panel,
26:03which was, I think it was 80 watts, something like that.
26:07And we could run a little black and white TV
26:09until the screen kind of disappeared into nothing.
26:12And that was quite good, because we could then say to the kids,
26:14you know, you've got to go to bed, the TVs run out.
26:17So you even had a little solar panel back then?
26:19Yeah, that was probably about very early 80s.
26:21We got the very first solar panel.
26:22So you were even solar pioneers back then?
26:26Yeah, I guess we had the need, you know, the people didn't.
26:31How easy was it to build a structure like this on an island?
26:36When we first came, there was no road for a start,
26:41bare bit of land, really.
26:43So getting the materials here was actually a major problem.
26:47We brought a barge, moved it here in 1976.
26:53And it came round to Paruri Bay
26:56because it was blowing a mean south-western.
26:59We ended up with all of the materials in Paruri Bay
27:02and then had to find a way to get it back around here into Schoena Bay.
27:09And then I met this fellow who had a scowl.
27:12He'd just built this steel scowl.
27:17He then was able to bring it in down to the bay, just down here.
27:19I had already built a flying fox across that bay.
27:23And then from there we had a flying fox that went up to the...
27:26I know this sounds far-fetched, but this is actually what happened.
27:29So we built these two flying foxes and then from that ridge had a trolley on a...
27:39all done with a capstan on a motor.
27:41It's quite a feat of logistical engineering, isn't it?
27:48It was a cooperative effort.
27:50There were a few of us involved in it and I'm really grateful for the help that I got.
27:53Everybody seems to help, support and even protect each other.
27:58Yeah. There is definitely an element of it, yeah.
28:03I can see how much of an impact this community has on its residents.
28:08But I can tell that for Roger, this place means so much more.
28:12That, to me, just says everything about why you're here.
28:18Yeah.
28:24What's it like living here on a day like today?
28:27It's magnificent. I absolutely love it.
28:30But...
28:33A lot of people came to Great Barrier for a one-week holiday
28:37and then ended up coming back and living the rest of their lives here.
28:40And that is a regular story that you'll keep hearing it.
28:43There's a lot of us, for him, that's just got that pull.
28:48I didn't grow up here, but this is my...
28:52This is my home.
28:55Yeah.
28:56And I love the way you call it magnificence.
29:02I couldn't agree more.
29:12I'm beginning to understand that out here
29:15there's a much deeper level of connection to the land and to the sea.
29:22And to find out just where that comes from,
29:24I'm heading north to one of the island's first true settlements.
29:29Kaua Marae.
29:30Kaua Marae.
29:35Kaua Marae.
29:36Kaua Marae.
29:37Kaua Marae.
29:38Kaua Marae.
29:39Kaua Marae.
29:41Kaua Marae.
29:42I'm about to meet Rodney, who's one of the local Maori elders.
29:46Kaua Marae.
29:47Kaua Marae.
29:49to find out what the island means to him and his people.
29:53But I'm also here to explore the architecture and design of their meeting house,
29:58which is the central part of the Marae.
30:08Rodney, how are you?
30:10I'm very good, thank you.
30:12Pleasure to meet you.
30:13Welcome to Heatapare Tūponoa Rehua.
30:20Thank you so much.
30:20To our tribal meeting house.
30:26And it's a very, very important symbolic building, isn't it?
30:29Oh, it is.
30:31Our tribal estate sort of tells people who we are as indigenous people.
30:37And your family connections go back a long way here.
30:41Beyond the 1250s.
30:42Oh, my word.
30:43Yeah, beyond the 1250s.
30:45That's incredible.
30:48Guided by the wildlife, the ocean current, and the stars,
30:56Maori were among the first to voyage across the Pacific in traditional boats,
31:02known as waka.
31:04When they got into new land, the waka was flipped upside down and created the chief's house.
31:16As you can see, an upside down waka.
31:19I love that, the upside down waka.
31:24Absolutely beautiful.
31:27This is the centre of the waka.
31:30These are books.
31:32These are books.
31:34That's what they are.
31:36It tells a story.
31:37You know, that connects us backwards in time.
31:40But people have to have an understanding of how to read it.
31:45I'm getting the sense that this is so much more than a place of shelter to Rodney and his people.
31:55Its identity, its memory, its heart.
32:00It's beautiful.
32:04The carvins are magnificent.
32:07The name of our house is Arehua.
32:10If you have a look on the side, he's got a patu beside him.
32:14So like a protector?
32:16Yeah, definitely.
32:17A kaitiaki, a guardian.
32:18And I just love the way he's looking out to the bay.
32:24Our guardians come from the sea.
32:29On the apex, that carving is called tukaiaya.
32:33It's a sea eagle.
32:35So our airspace is taken care of with tukaiaya.
32:40The chains of islands are taken care of with the tuatara.
32:44The tuatara comes out of the age of the dinosaur.
32:46It's most probably one of the only dinosaurs that are left.
32:51The tuatara can bask on the rocks and then up on the beach,
32:55but can also swim to other islands.
32:58So that gives us a connection to the chains of islands that are around us.
33:05And the sea space is taken care of around te mauri, or the shark.
33:12Our tupanen that used to call him for guidance.
33:17Normally when he revealed himself, a storm's coming.
33:21It's time to come in.
33:22It's quite incredible.
33:28For anyone to come and see a building like this,
33:30they would think it's a very simple form, very beautifully made.
33:34But the depth of the symbolism and the storytelling,
33:38the connections to your family and the land and the sea and the sky,
33:43it's phenomenal, isn't it?
33:44There is no-one older on this island than us.
33:52Our children and our grandchildren will have an identity around who they are
33:59because of their tribal make-up of their tribal house.
34:07I feel an immense sense of gratitude to Rodney
34:11for sharing the history of his ancestors with me.
34:15A powerful and symbolic home
34:18built upon foundations of bravery, community
34:22and of respect for the natural world.
34:25Medlands Beach is a growing community of homes
34:39located on the eastern front
34:41of this spectacularly remote island paradise,
34:46Great Barrier Island.
34:47It may look like a paradise postcard,
34:51but its proximity to the ocean
34:53means that the weather here is ruthlessly unpredictable.
35:02But often the toughest conditions
35:04can help to forge the toughest of homes.
35:10So today's my last day on our tear-grade barrier.
35:13I'm on my way to meet Stuart,
35:15who's the architect for an award-winning house
35:18that has a unique spin on the traditional courtyard.
35:25A finalist in the New Zealand Home of the Year Awards
35:28and winner of the Best Interior for 2019,
35:32this property is set back well beyond the boundaries of the beach.
35:37This is it.
35:39Just tucked away at the end of a long driveway.
35:43A four-bedroom, three-bathroom family hideaway
35:48that on first inspection
35:51looks more like a beautifully designed military complex
35:55than a high-design home.
35:59Very nice.
36:02Stuart!
36:04G'day.
36:05Lovely to meet you.
36:06Nice to meet you too.
36:07What a fantastic house.
36:09That is a pure, crisp piece of elegant modernism right there.
36:12You are absolutely right.
36:14Very good description.
36:17Stuart Gardine is the ambitious architect
36:19who was commissioned to design this place,
36:23aptly known as the Pinwheel House.
36:27You would never, ever know it was here
36:29as I came in on that driveway.
36:30Yeah, I think they do sort of say that, you know,
36:33the best house is always the ones you can't see from the road,
36:35you know, down the leafy lane.
36:37In this remote, wild location,
36:42these houses can get battered by the elements, can't they?
36:46Yeah, well, it's called Great Barrier for a reason, you know,
36:48and it's a, you know, because it is the island
36:50which actually sort of shelters Auckland
36:51from the easterlies, you know, the easterlies storms.
36:55In a way, that's probably why most of the houses here
36:58are actually set back behind the dunes.
37:00We put a lot of time into the composition of it.
37:05When you're not here, you've got to close it up.
37:07When you are here, it's got to be very open.
37:13From the outside, this house is an absolute fortress.
37:19Large stack of shutters keep out any hint
37:22of unwanted rain, wind or sun.
37:25These hatches and the extended timber cladding
37:29are also designed to protect
37:31some of the more exposed window panes.
37:35And even though you can slide all the doors closed,
37:38pull all the shutters down,
37:39literally batten down the hatches,
37:41I'm assuming the whole thing just opens up.
37:44Yeah, you're absolutely right.
37:45Come on, let's have a look.
37:46Oh, Stuart, this is absolutely beautiful.
37:56The lower floor is almost like a locked-down timber vault.
38:01The play between the white ash and the warm indirect light
38:05gives it this sort of welcoming glow.
38:10I see what you mean about everything being closed up.
38:14You've got these beautiful shutters
38:15that make it feel very, very protected.
38:19What was the big architectural concept?
38:22Well, ironically, during the design phase,
38:24we called it the courtyard house
38:26because that's what our clients asked us for,
38:28to do a conventional courtyard house.
38:31We very quickly realised it was impossible.
38:35The site can only allow 15% site coverage,
38:38and so it was almost impossible
38:39to get a four-bedroom house on a piece of land this size.
38:44So how on earth have you designed a courtyard house
38:47without a conventional courtyard in the middle?
38:50We ended up inverting it.
38:52We put the courtyards on the outside.
38:55Instead of having a single courtyard,
38:56we've been able to get four.
38:57Now that is fantastic.
39:11So this is courtyard number one?
39:13Courtyard number one on the west side,
39:15so it's lovely in the evening.
39:20So this is the next courtyard.
39:22A little bit more informal,
39:26you know, the outdoor shower, the barbecue, the laundry.
39:30And then another courtyard.
39:35And this one feels different to the others
39:38because you've got this beautiful curve
39:39at the end of the garden.
39:41It contrasts beautifully
39:43with the kind of cubed form of the house.
39:49It feels like there's a centre to the house.
39:51And everything else kind of spins around it.
39:54Which is the pinwheel.
39:57Is that why you call it the pinwheel?
39:59Well, we had called it the courtyard house.
40:01And then, of course, some people say,
40:03well, it's actually a pinwheel, isn't it?
40:05The pinwheel actually creates the asymmetry,
40:08you know, within this very simple rectangular sort of form.
40:12Gives it a dynamic feel.
40:15So let me try and find the absolute centre point of the plan.
40:19And I'm guessing, Stuart, it's somewhere...
40:24Yeah, that's it.
40:25There.
40:25Yeah, get on.
40:26Centred with the fireplace, perfectly balanced.
40:29And then everything spins and rotates around it.
40:35So you've got courtyard one,
40:37two, three, four.
40:42Beautifully done.
40:43Yeah, it's extraordinarily simple.
40:48When you experience this house from the lower level,
40:51you can see that it has the ability
40:53to completely close off from the outside world.
40:58But as you venture up these beautiful timber stairs,
41:03it's the complete opposite.
41:04Oh, what a space.
41:16The whole place is exploding with natural light.
41:22We've got top light over there.
41:25Top light over the staircase.
41:27Just illuminating those corners.
41:35And this is all American white ash.
41:38It's even been lightened even more
41:40to make it feel more peaceful, calm and serene.
41:45Not for one second do I feel disconnected
41:48from the outside world.
41:50The centre point again is there
41:54and you've got view, view, view.
42:00And all the bedrooms just rotate off this room.
42:07Let's check out the bedrooms.
42:12Beautiful full-height doors, minimal handles.
42:16And what I love is that every bedroom is the same.
42:19There's no hierarchy.
42:20There's no master bedroom suite
42:23with an ensuite bathroom or shower room.
42:27It's four bedrooms, all identical.
42:30Two shower rooms, and that's it.
42:34A small amount of storage.
42:37Look at that, all felt-lined.
42:40And then a long, long, minimal bench
42:43for you to put your suitcases when you arrive.
42:46Even the hanging rail is simple and effortless.
42:53There's just something very minimal, Scandinavian,
42:57even Japanese about this house.
43:00And then this
43:07is one of the simplest shower rooms
43:10ever.
43:15Via to that courtyard.
43:19And look at this for a shower!
43:21Oh, my word!
43:23That is beautiful!
43:32You've got this amazing contrast
43:33between all the other rooms being in timber.
43:36And then you step into this
43:38otherworldly shower space,
43:40which is in this brilliant white
43:42Italian Carrera marble.
43:44The attention to detail is stunning.
43:48Even the marble
43:48has been laid in this vertical orientation.
43:52And what that does,
43:53it just draws your eye up
43:54to that magnificent skylight.
44:00Who would have thought
44:02that a small shower space like this
44:04could be so architecturally powerful?
44:06By rethinking the classic courtyard layout,
44:14the pinwheel house doesn't hide
44:16from the island's wild character.
44:19It celebrates it.
44:20During my time on out here,
44:30there's been one very powerful,
44:32overwhelming feeling that I've had
44:34since I arrived.
44:36And that's one of protection.
44:42Great Barrier was even given its name
44:44because it protects the mainland.
44:47I've seen some beautiful, resilient homes
44:50that have protected those that live in them
44:52from the extreme elements.
44:54That's fantastic, Ash.
44:56And then there's the people themselves.
45:01Supporting and protecting each other
45:03every single day,
45:05no matter what island life throws at them.
45:20When can I move?
45:23More same time next week.
45:24Now, not only is Grand Designs back,
45:27but now Kevin and superfan Greg James
45:29are taking apart each episode
45:31in Grand Designs Deconstructed.
45:33It's streaming now.
45:34Back to tonight and on the way,
45:36heart-stopping tasks
45:37with a side of soup
45:38in Taskmaster.
45:39The Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grand Designs of the Grands of the Grand Designs of the Grands of the Grands
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