This house is modest in size but ambitious in expression. Testament to a trusting and collaborative relationship between architect and client, the house takes the generative idea of a bird in flight and marries it with the compass form of the pōhutukawa seed. The result is a home that feels simultaneously warm and inviting, yet open and connected to its surrounds. A heroic timber ceiling cloaks the north-facing rooms, which draw the eye out to the pōhutukawas and estuary beyond.