Award-winning architect Piers Taylor and actress and property enthusiast Caroline Quentin explore extraordinary homes built in coastal locations, meeting the owners and architects brave enough to take on the challenges.
The first stop on their coastal adventure takes them to an island in Norway, arriving by speedboat for a two-day stay in a four-bedroom house built on a footprint of just 100 square metres. Built from timber covered with concrete to withstand the extremes of weather as well as the salty atmosphere, Piers and Caroline settle into this beautiful island escape with a swim followed by a barbecue.
Next is southern Spain, to an unconventional home built into a steep cliff face overlooking the Mediterranean. Caroline and Piers meet the young architects who designed this truly extraordinary building, complete with a cantilevered terrace offering maximum sea views and a swimming pool as well as an unusual Gaudi-esque zinc-tiled roof.
Piers and Caroline head to the other side of the world to the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island in Marlborough Sounds. The three-bedroom house is built from two separate wooden cladded structures – a living space with a large dining/kitchen area and the master bedroom, both held aloft by a series of hardwood timbers and linked by a glazed bridge corridor.
Their final stop is Nova Scotia in Canada, to a house inspired by two ships in dry dock. Jutting dramatically out onto the shore line, they are designated as individual living and sleeping areas. The steel structure is clad with a wooden shell and has glass throughout, and the cantilevered trusses were designed to peer over the coast and allow the sea to pass underneath.