Cheshire Architects on Lunchbox Architect

Cheshire is an Auckland design studio that crafts "fireside chairs, whole city districts and the places, buildings, homes, objects and experiences in between." Their work spans hotel towers, heritage, workplaces, masterplanning, lighting and objects, as well as homes and remote cabins, across six continents. Their stated aim: "Our work is to reveal the extraordinary." Director Pip Cheshire, a founding principal of the practice, received the NZIA Gold Medal in 2013 and was president of the NZIA from 2014 to 2016.

On Lunchbox, Eyrie Houses is part polemic, part escape: two tiny off-grid cabins near Kaiwaka, each barely larger than four sheets of plywood, their timber outsides burnt black. The site would have allowed a 1500-square-metre palace but not two 29-square-metre cabins, so the architects argued their case. As they put it, "We wanted a different vision for New Zealand's coastal future."

See Eyrie Houses on Lunchbox below.

Eyrie Houses: Two Houses Each is Barely Larger Than Four Sheets of Plywood

Eyrie Houses demonstrate just how decadent the holiday home has become. And how rewarding returning back to basics can be…