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Fiji’s Reef House Residence Is a Viewport to Breathtaking Vistas

Teal waters lap white sand beaches just outside this 6,000-square-foot ocean-front estate situated on two acres of Fiji’s northern shore within the spectacular lowland peninsula of Vomo Island. Aptly named Reef House, the residence provides world class access to waves and an architectural viewport to frame breathtaking vistas. But to realize such a calm-inducing space required assembling a global team in an effort as grand as its scale.

Modern kitchen with a light wood finish, island counter with three black stools, a plant in a glass vase, and a dark dining table with chairs. Ceiling features a wooden design and a chandelier.

The family for whom the home was built brought together talent from disparate ends of the earth including Canadian-based firm Architecture Building Culture, New Zealand-based landscape architects Wraight + Associates LTD, San Francisco-based Lindsay Gerber Interiors, and an Australian lighting designer – among others. Despite COVID delays and the physical distance between all parties involved, the collaboration proved to be synergistic as evidenced by the team’s creative solutions.

Modern kitchen and dining area with wooden ceiling and large hanging light fixtures. A long dark wooden dining table with eight chairs is in the foreground, and the kitchen features white cabinetry.

Open-air lounge with modern furniture and a low table, under a wooden ceiling. View of outdoor loungers, lush greenery, and the ocean in the background.

Spacious modern interior featuring a wooden ceiling, white pillars, tile flooring, a gray sofa, a dining table with several chairs, and a kitchen area with white cabinets and countertops.

A pavilion system comprises the compound with the main structure devised by architect Mark Ritchie to serve as its heart and lungs. This versatile living and entertainment space expands and contracts as desired with the position of enormous sliding glass walls to take in salty, fresh air while delineating between a formal indoor living room and dining room off the kitchen. What’s more, these two areas are separated by an open breezeway furnished as a shaded outdoor living room. “When all of the glass walls are opened the effect is breathtaking” says interior designer Lindsay Gerber. “The rooms not only blend together seamlessly, but they seem to melt into the black bottom zero edge pool and ocean beyond.”

A modern bedroom with a wooden ceiling, white bedding, a curtain, and a view of a pool and tropical vegetation through sliding glass doors.

Modern bathroom with a minimalist design featuring a countertop sink, black faucet, towel rack with a hanging checkered towel, and a large glass window looking out to a small outdoor green space.

Additional programming kept close to the core includes a butler’s pantry, powder room, service rooms, changing area, sports gear room, the swimming pool placed parallel to the house, patios, hot tub, and extensive garden whose tendrils extend beyond the public spaces. Flanking each side of that central nucleus along the horizontal axis are three pavilions of a smaller scale – two on one side, which house four individual bedroom suites, and one on the other for a more secluded primary suite.

A wooden alcove featuring a cushioned bench seat. Sunlight streams through a gap, creating a bright line on the white wall. Lush greenery is visible outside.

A tropical outdoor scene featuring a rectangular swimming pool surrounded by palm trees and greenery, adjacent to a modern building with open seating areas.

The project proposes a paradise forged from a productive dialogue between traditional Pacific forms or expressions and contemporary architectural language. Roughness and spontaneity are balanced by elegance and restraint, respectively. An off-white limestone grounds the material palette in simplicity and unity while showcasing organic texture as it patinas with maturity over time. This heterogeneity also helps better articulate the other finishes and furnishings selected: blond colored Victorian Ash wood, charcoal porcelain pool tile, and the off-white painted plastered walls, as well as dark windows and fixtures, and the lush greens on premises.

A white modern house with a gray roof is surrounded by lush green vegetation and palm trees under a blue sky with some clouds.

Linens and wool complement exterior grade fabrics for effortless movement from outdoors to indoors where guests may find comfort in a variety of handmade, artisan pieces. The monumental “Urchin” pendants suspended above the dining table come from Coup D’Etat in San Francisco, from where all the built-in leather headboards also hail. The bedroom pendants are blown glass from master glass designer Alison Berger. And the large wooden dining, coffee, and console tables, as well as bedroom benches, are custom designs by Lindsay Gerber Interiors, which were later manufactured by local artisans in Fiji. So too were the drapery and custom pillows.

Modern open-air building with a slanted roof, featuring outdoor seating areas. Green foliage in the foreground and a view of the ocean and trees in the background.

“The shapes we designed for the wooden tables and casegoods throughout were simple in form, but we asked them to employ a subtle hand scraping technique that mimics the ripples on the ocean,” Gerber notes of nature’s influence echoed in the aesthetics. “It was a pleasure to work with them and we loved showcasing their talent and the beautiful wood.”

A modern building with a pitched roof is surrounded by tropical palm trees, located near a calm, blue ocean under a clear sky.

A coastal resort with buildings surrounded by palm trees overlooks a calm, sunlit ocean and a mountainous area on the horizon.

Photography by Sean Fennessy.

With professional degrees in architecture and journalism, Joseph has a desire to make living beautifully accessible. His work seeks to enrich the lives of others with visual communication and storytelling through design. Previously a regular contributor to titles under the SANDOW Design Group, including Luxe and Metropolis, Joseph now serves the Design Milk team as their Managing Editor. When not practicing, he teaches visual communication, theory, and design. The New York-based writer has also contributed to exhibitions hosted by the AIA New York’s Center for Architecture and Architectural Digest, and recently published essays and collage illustrations with Proseterity, a literary publication.

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