Unpretentious simplicity meets cutting-edge sophistication in the beach residence that Erik Zuziak, AIA, built for his family on O‘ahu’s North Shore. Traditional design and ultra-contemporary, eco-friendly materials, as well as a sensitive blend of design and site, add up to true Hawaiian style according to the award-winning architect.

    This is a vacation home for these Southern California residents. It’s also something of a dream home, since Zuziak has spent decades visiting the Islands and surfing the very waters that now dominate the view from his länai. Today he still surfs those waves regularly, now in the company of his son and daughter (although Zuziak admits that sometimes, he just watches from the länai with a cup of coffee in his hand).

    Zuziak decided it was high time that he design a Hawaiian home for himself after his company, JZMK Partners, won an award at O‘ahu’s prestigious Parade of Homes for design work executed at one of  Gentry Ewa’s projects in their Haleakea development. When a lot became available in the Sunset Beach Colony (the North Shore’s only gated oceanfront community),—Zuziak jumped. His lot was across the street from the famous surf break known as “Velzyland,” one that Zuziak has often paddled into over the years. The lot’s unique position in a meadow set between Kamehameha Highway and the brown-sugar sands of O‘ahu’s north-facing beaches would allow him to construct a home that blends into the landscape. “It’s all about contextualism,” said Zuziak. “I let the land dictate the design of the home.”

    The only “requests” Zuziak had from his family came from his wife, who asked that there be a central garden on the 17,000 square foot lot, so she could keep fresh cut flowers throughout the house. From Zuziak’s point of view, the most essential design element had to be a central hang-out area, where the whole family could live, play and entertain.

    “People are always asking ‘What is Hawaiian style?,’” Zuziak shared. “To me, it’s designing a floor plan that keeps the family together. Call it a ‘great room’ or whatever. But it’s design concept that maintains ‘ohana.” Zuziak came to embrace this concept during another local project: designing and constructing the 3,500 square foot Extreme Makeover home (and successive 4,500 square foot community center) in 106 days, something he and Brookfield Homes Hawaii did before the entire nation on ABC network television.

    In order to achieve this goal for his own abode, Zuziak first designed an outdoor hammock garden with a few strategically located hammocks strung between palm trees. Next came the indoor-outdoor living space, which sits on the northwest corner of the home, yet acts as its central hang-out spot. Dark stained ipe wood, imported from Brazil, roots this breezy space, which is topped by a vaulted, Plantation-styled roof, with open walls that face famed Sunset Beach. “This wood is so hard, termites hate it,” said Zuziak.

    Ceiling fans (from Pacific Ceiling Fan & Electric) generally rest inactive on the main länai; the trade winds and ocean breezes normally keep the airflow moving without their aid. Zuziak left a four-foot overhang off the länai roof, and installed electric screens by Executive Screens Inc., that come down in case of seasonal bugs.

    “Even during the intermittent torrential rainstorms that occasionally happen here, you’d still be totally dry and comfortable in this länai,” said Zuziak. He added that louvered doors throughout the home also allow for cross-breezes even with the house locked down.

    One of Zuziak’s themes throughout the home is extensive use of sustainable materials. For starters, the home has air conditioning; yet with the direction of flow through the house, it’s almost never needed. Second, recycled goods made for some interesting design elements, sometimes in unlikely places. The mud room entryway flooring, as well as the flooring in the two children’s bedrooms,  and all bathrooms, is a woven vinyl called “Seasons” made with a recycled rubber bottom. It comes from a company called DMI. The flooring looks and feels like woven sea grass mat. It is perfect for kids who shuttle between the beach and the house, as sand can be sprayed or simply swept off the woven vinyl.

    Perhaps the most visible recycled element is found in the gourmet kitchen. In lieu of mined granite, he used recycled glass for countertops. Zuziak acquired the slabs from a company named Ice Stone, which manufactures synthetic granite like stone, made from recycled glass. The results are “stained glass meets taffy”—playful and fun, yet functional and sustainable. Three-form panels set in the cabinets (all obtained from Home Depot) and the backsplash are made by Oceanside Glass Tile Company, again utilizing recycled materials.

    Moving through the house, it’s clear that Zuziak—while maintaining an open floor plan—had privacy in mind. He installed sliding doors to make it easy to change the layout if, say, the kids wanted to watch a movie on the big screen TV while the adults were dining on the länai.

    Feeling that these sliding doors needed to have personality, Zuziak approached Lon Klein of Haleiwa Surf Board Company. Klein is a local O‘ahu entrepreneur who has made everything from beautiful custom hardwood surfboards to one of a kind furniture and custom doors. These he designs and constructs out of his shop in the former Waialua Sugar Mill. Zuziak designed his doors so that when not in use, they’re invisible. Yet when their presence is commanded, they almost dominate the decor. Clean, simple lines with gorgeous variable woods beg further inspection.

    The master bedroom, bath, and a single guestroom occupy the home’s second floor. Perhaps most notable in the spaciously designed master bedroom are the four-poster bed and other dark wood furniture—all of which was designed by local artisan (and importer), Claudio Fernandez  of “Bali Moon.”

    Based in nearby Haleiwa, Fernandez is famous Island-wide for his unique furniture imports, and for the design tweaks that he adds to “localize” each piece. He purchases old recycled lumber from teak homes in Indonesia, has them reshaped to his liking there, and brings them to Hawai‘i, where he customizes pieces at the request of loyal clientele. One great example in this home melds with a pair of nightstands that Zuziak purchased from Fernandez. Zuziak needed a desk, and couldn’t find anything he enjoyed as much as Fernandez’s nightstands. So Fernandez made him a teak desk to match. It now stands as a shapely focal point of the bedroom. That is, if the expansive länai with its beckoning view of the surf break at Velzyland doesn’t suck you in. Green slate tiling covers the guest bathroom, while the master uses Mexican beach pebble on the shower floor, set against a backdrop of black slate (all imported by Bella Pietra). Andiroba wood accents and Dutch doors complete the scheme.

        Any debate over “what is true Hawaiian style” ends the moment a person walks into this home. From Zuziak’s länai, it’s obvious that Hawaiian style is wind and waves, sun and surf, tropics and tradition, Islands and innovation. Above all, however, the Zuziak home begs the question: why debate the elements of style, when you can grab a surfboard and enjoy the elements themselves?