Inside Out

The Herbst bach on Great Barrier Island turns 20.

- Simon Farrell-Green

There are houses that stay indelibly imprinted on your brain. You can remember every step you took, every footfall despite having only been in them once or twice. They become familiar, like a house you’ve spent a lot of time in. For me, one such place is the bach of Lance and Nicola Herbst on Great Barrier Island. This summer, it turns 20 years old.

You might know it from the reportage it has received over the years, and for the effect, it had on New Zealand architecture and the Herbst's’ careers. Back in the early 2000s, the couple burst onto the New Zealand architecture scene after emigrating from South Africa with a style of building – all outdoor rooms and screens, outdoor fireplaces and methods of building, where the bones of the house seemed elegantly on display. It was foreign yet uniquely New Zealand. It belonged here, a version of the New Zealand beach house; familiar and strange.

I first visited a few years back with Nicky’s sister Jackie Meiring: the house was closed up, hibernating. I visited again at the beginning of this year while judging Home of the Year with the Herbsts, and Gloria Cabral, our international judge. You don’t just arrive, open the door and turn things on here: you have to unlock padlocks and open big wooden doors that turn into walls, and slide back the shutters and set the fire for dinner. There’s a ritual to this place, a series of moves you have to make before it functions.

I went for a swim, and when I got back there was a gin waiting for me. We sat outside until late with the fire blazing. We didn’t do the dishes, because in South Africa that means your hosts want you to go home.