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"There are various dining sets around the houses, so we can choose one that is best protected from the wind or sun," says Aleksi.

Inside the enclosed front courtyard, a deck extends off main entrance. The exterior is covered in dark gray stucco, which contrasts with the deck cladding.

The bedroom is elevated around five meters above the forest floor, and the space beneath has—like the green roof—been given back to the Bushveld. “Naturally, this space is shadier than the surrounding forest, so it creates a different microclimate for different species to flourish in that area,” says architect Ant Vervoort. “It’s an area that we have cultivated.”

The green roof was designed to give back the space that was taken up by the building’s footprint to the Bushveld and the animals. It is planted with site-endemic grasses, aloes, and creepers. “What pleases me one hell of a lot is that the building is completely hidden when you’re more than 20 meters away from the structure,” says Vervoort. “It’s invisible, and I’m super proud of that. The most important aspect of this building was to revere the site. I use the word revere because we didn’t just respect it—we treated this site as if it were God. I think we should do that more as architects.”

“The chimneys are in essence two big columns with some beams between them, and they look a bit like rugby posts,” says architect Ant Vervoort. “The crossbars of the rugby posts hold up the timber beams.”

The bedroom/living space is enclosed by large glass windows framing the treescape. “I think one of the most successful experiential aspects of a building is how intimately involved it is with the site,” says architect Ant Vervoort. “An expensive view has the effect of divorcing one from the site. In House of the Tall Chimneys, the views are very close and intimate, which makes you part of the site.” The timber used throughout is Eucalyptus saligna, which is native to Australia and sustainably grown and harvested in South Africa.

A long, timber deck extends through the tree canopy at House of the Big Arch. As House of the Tall Chimneys has only a bedroom/living space and a bathroom, all other activities, such as cooking and dining, takes place at House of the Big Arch.

House of the Tall Chimneys is the guesthouse of House of the Big Arch, also by Frankie Pappas. The two buildings share the same material palette, and are linked by a long path through the forest.

The aluminum windows are powder coated in a charcoal color, which is intended to match the shadows created by the forest and help the building further blend in.

The team lidar scanned around 40,000 square meters of the forested site to create a 3D model—including trees, branches, and roots—that would allow them to accurately determine how to position and design the building to have minimal impact on the surrounding trees. “We then designed a seriously thin building that could slot between the trees,” says architect Ant Vervoort.

“We pulled apart one volume and staggered it along the buildable area of the property,” says architect Matthew Ahlberg of Portland firm Barrett Made. The home is clad in unfinished cedar, meant to weather over time.

The north side of the home opens up to a covered wraparound deck and views of the Karangahake Gorge.

Karangahake House elevations

Karangahake House elevations

Karangahake House site plan

James, an avid mountain biker, with his young daughter. The outdoorsy family enjoys access to the many hiking and river swimming opportunities available on the property.

The homeowners have joined New Zealand’s One Billion Trees program and plan to regenerate part of their land with native bush.

The home is wrapped in eco-friendly Abodo Tundra shiplap with a sustainable Sioo:x finish that helps the wood develop a silvery patina over time.

The timber construction is a nod to Coromandel’s timber logging heritage.