A redesigned 1938 residence on Oahu’s North Shore is still just a turtle’s stroll away from the Pacific

When it comes to building homes on the Hawaiian coast, there’s oceanfront
…and then there’s oceanfront, as in: open the front door and you practically fall into the surf.

Today, due to zoning restrictions, few if any Island homes are built just a turtle’s stroll away from the Pacific. But some older Hawaiian homes, built long before the adoption of modern construction codes, are still standing right at the ocean’s edge. One example is a 1,750-square foot beach cottage on the North Shore of Oahu. Originally built in 1938, the cottage gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “living on the water.”

In 2005, an Arizona real estate professional acquired this residence and decided to have it renovated. After all, the building’s original construction was so flimsy that a strong wind or rainstorm could have leveled it.

The options were either to rebuild the frame and work up from there, or level the original cottage and start anew. All-new construction would allow the owner to expand the main residence, add a guest house and put in a pool. However, all-new construction would also require moving further back from the ocean to comply with county ordinances.

The owner chose to preserve the original location – which meant preserving (and greatly strengthening and upgrading) certain elements of the original structure.

The project went to RIM Architects principal designer Matt Gilbertson, AIA, NCARB, and to his RIM associate, interior designer Jule Lucero. For Gilbertson, the project was a distinct change of pace, since he spends most of his time designing larger-scale community projects and commercial builds. But he was intrigued by the challenge of revamping the nearly 50-year old cottage.

"Neither we nor the owner wanted to move the structure,” Gilbertson recalls. “Pulling back from the original site meant you lost one major effect: that unparalleled 'beachfront experience.' The further you pulled back, the more you lost the experience of living on the water. It changes the feeling," said Gilbertson.

A few months after the owner made the final decision to resurrect the original structure, Gilbertson received an unexpected phone call. The owner had brought his family to the nearly unlivable cottage. What’s more, he had taken upon himself to level most of its interior structure, including load-bearing walls and support beams.

"And just like that, we had to get in there and begin work, fast," admitted Gilbertson.

First, a reworking of the roof frame was necessary to make the home safe for workers. This meant scrapping some original plans, which would have included a small build expansion that made use of a support wall that was no longer present.

"We set out building a more modest and typical North Shore cottage retreat," says Gilbertson, who added that instead of cordoned-off rooms, the new "open plan" could include a great room.

Shortly after that came one of the team's best decisions: to make the main entrance face the ocean. Visitors to the home would need to walk down to the beach and back up into the house. But this would strongly reinforce the fact that this was a true beach cottage.

One of the perks of starting from the ground up, said Gilbertson, was that they could plan for whatever flooring they wanted. Since the subfloor had to be redone, they were able to frame out mahogany floors, which was exactly what the owner wanted. And, from there forward, there was a conscious effort to design everything with sustainability in mind.

"While 'green' is hip now, most architects that have a conscience have always had a mindset to reuse whenever they could," said Gilbertson. "It's practical, and we're trained in our discipline to have a responsibility to our environment."

The new owners wanted the utmost in modern amenities throughout the house. Gilbertson was able to work in mostly local products and natural materials throughout. First, the open living room, dining room, kitchen and office were made entirely with mahogany flooring, dark wood furniture, open vaulted ceiling, ‘Ōhi‘a wood windows and shutters, stone flooring accents and glass tiles—resulting in a very organic feel. Adding several doors and windows increased natural cooling and reduced energy consumption.

If acquiring sustainable materials on the Islands sometimes poses a challenge, Gilbertson takes it in stride. "I don't look at this as if it's a problem," he says. "It's a condition of what we do as designers. I look at how to get better relationships with my suppliers, to come up with new ways to use what we already have here. By cultivating the relationships with local producers, manufacturers, designers and so on, we can figure out how to make the best use of what's already on Island. It's a very gratifying thing to accomplish."

Some of the materials Gilbertson was able to acquire from local purveyors included quartzite, fossil limestone, river rocks and recycled glass. "Not all of these things were native to Hawaii, but they were natural looking and gave a real level of comfort," he says. "We tried to make things charming first and natural second."

Additional perks included a "secret" garden off the master bedroom, with an outdoor Japanese-style "ofuro," or bath.

It’s a long way from 1938 to 2008. But it’s still just a turtle’s stroll from this charming North Shore beach cottage to the water.