For as long as the British have visited the seaside for pleasure, the country’s coastal architecture has borrowed freely from far-flung places. Victorian resorts abound with onion domes and pagodas that promised new sensations and leisured ease. There is an enjoyable echo of this tradition in Níall McLaughlin Architects’ Saltmarsh House, an elegant pavilion providing entertainment space and guest accommodation on the grounds of its clients’ waterfront home on the Isle of Wight, four miles from the English mainland.

The main house, a crenellated 19th-century pile, sits on a low hill, with gardens that sweep down to tidal marshland adjoining a natural harbor. A winding path leads down to the pavilion at the water’s edge. It’s a sensitive setting, and the primary aim was to tread lightly. “We began with the idea of a delicate frame, floating above the ground,” says McLaughlin. “A simple sketch might have shown a platform sheltered by a canopy roof, and the changing light coming in from the sea and the sky.”