Those who watched this program on TV One last night will have seen this close-to-us fascinating construction.
“Not that the Peka Peka beach house in this week’s episode of Amazing Spaces is unknown, but it’s probably fair to say it’s an undiscovered gem for most Kiwis.
“Which is what was intended of course. For this is a house that has been deliberately disguised as a hillock, to get around stringent planning regulations that ensure no house is visible from the beach in this area of ‘outstanding beauty’.
“Architect Fritz Eisenhofer designed and built the concrete house for his own family in the late 1980s, and it is as weird as it is wonderful.
“This house is all about simplicity. But back in the ’80s, this truly was a design ahead of its time – “the ultimate in open-plan living”. The house channels heat from the sun to a rock storage unit at the rear, which then radiates heat out into the space on cooler days.”