Meandering steps through careful native planting leads to a flat entry on a relatively steep site. The highly crafted timber box that awaits effortlessly floats over custom-made joinery. The apparent thinness of the structure is outstanding and helps the house to sit lightly between well-established pōhutakawa trees. A cohesive, impressively detailed design includes cleverly disguised shutters that split open the timber shell of the upper volume to admit light, air and birdsong.