KA architects was asked to design a four bedroom house on a near level site outside the South Island resort city of Queenstown.

The clients were moving to Queenstown from their Auckland, Greenhithe home, also designed by KA 13 years ago. The brief called for a highly sustainable house.

Our decades of experience in passive solar design resulted in a light and airy, naturally comfortable house that looks out onto a large North facing garden with mountains beyond.
A key design decision was the “butterfly” roof. One of the two roof planes, over the “service spaces”, tilts to the North to become the solar PV “energy plant” for the house. The second roof plane, over the North facing “people” spaces, tilts to the South to allow winter sun access deep into the building while providing ample summer shading due to the wide eaves. The central gutter collects the rainwater discharged into in-ground tanks for re-use. Central to the house is a conservatory that also acts as a winter “heatsink”. All spaces are naturally ventilated, backed up by mechanical ventilation, with pre-heated fresh air for the winter months.
The structure is a timber frame on an insulated concrete slab. The external 140 mm framing accommodates a high level of insulation and is clad in vertical timber weatherboards with alternating depths and thicknesses creating a soft rippled shadow line.
The natural stained timber envelops the form of the building, folding up the angled soffits which are carved around the slopes and interjects seamlessly into the land.

The end result is a sculptural building that responds to its environment via a push and pull of the facade, in a breathtakingly beau