Barrier’s best bachs

The improvisational shacks of the Great Barrier Island have inspired a new breed of bachs, collecting rainfall for water treating waste for irrigation, harnessing the sun with solar panels, and generally creating a space where “living in the home feels much more like a pleasure than a chore.” South African born architects Lance and Nicola Herbst’s newest bach on the Great Barrier Island is a product of trying to inform their design with the implicit modesty of the term. The couple has relished the opportunity to design something completely off the grid, dispensing with the patterns of city life in favour of predominantly outdoor living in the island’s sub tropical climate. “City houses have become machines for living, and there’s less and less humanity,” Lance says. “Here we were looking to sacrifice convenience and create delight.”