The site faced a sheltered bay on the eastern side of Waiheke Island on a steep basin sloping down to the northeast. Two prominent 100-year-old Pōhutukawa trees marked the transition from the earth to the sea. A remote bay occupied by only three other houses, although familiar as the adjoining house, was designed by DMA in 2004 for another client.

Approached by a family residing in the UK who wished to re-establish their links with New Zealand so their children could experience the natural environment far from the metropolis of London. In their own words, the brief was 'a flat site...but on a cliff'. The steep basin made executing the brief without undertaking massive excavations or designing a house dislocated from the landscape extremely challenging.

The design follows the hill's natural contour, approaching the slope through three levels. This resulted in a series of spaces that interacted with the ground level vertically and were displaced, running back up the hill while remaining contained under one simple hipped roof form. The parti carefully considered linking the various functions with the appropriate ground level stepping up the hill in terms of the view's direction and the sun's path.

The house is formed under a simple hipped roof, cut in half following the hill's contour. The entrance is located on the intermediate level, leading into the centre of the house, opening onto a triple-height atrium that leads down to the living level below. Arranged around the central atrium are three bedrooms and the garage/boathouse, conceived as a dual-use space to make the most of the evening sun. On the lower level, the living area opens onto a small lawn and swimming pool directly connecting to the beach below. The beach, shaded by the Pōhutukawa trees, is seen as the lowest level of the house and is well-occupied during summer! The highest level of the house, at the peak of the hipped roof, is a bunk room with space for 7 to sleep. This area opens onto a western deck and connects the house back to the hill above.