This simple, yet elegant, off-grid house for a retired boat builder and interior designer sits amongst rejuvenating kanuka bush on Great Barrier Island. After a lifetime of working and sailing abroad, they have returned to New Zealand to settle and find their place within the tightknit community of Whangaparapara Harbour. The dark profiled metal form sits recessively in the beautiful landscape, while up close the softer natural surfaces clad in cedar weatherboard offer warmth and tactility. The sequence of entry through a covered outdoor passage creates a compressive threshold enclosing a protected eastern courtyard.  This provides a sunny space for breakfast but also practical outdoor expansion for workshop building projects and gardening. The band of fenestration through the living spaces offers a panoramic view across to the hills and down to the water where the clients hand built classic timber ketch rests, awaiting the next adventure.