By Kerr Ritchie
This home sits on a sloping site above Queenstown with spectacular views south to the Remarkable Ranges, to Bowen Peak and to the town and the lake below. The client requested a house unlike many of the other monolithic plaster houses in the neighbourhood.
It is a dark textured cedar house formed by inter-linked parallelograms that hugs the perimeter of the site to maximise the space to the north of the house. It has dramatic panoramic views to the south and sun filled courtyards on the north that borrow the green space of the adjoining reserve. The oblique angled planes allow it to capture views in many directions.
The interior is unpredictable. A triangular room with cedar clad walls forms an extension to the outside courtyard. A Flash of bright orange is revealed at the snug core of the house. A small double height space in the living room captures the view to the tall mountains beyond. Meanwhile the house has remarkable privacy within its suburban context.
Kerr Ritchie is a Queenstown based mixed discipline studio focused on an integrated and collaborative design process. The Studio has extensive experience in architecture, landscape architecture, and Resource planning.
We respond to the parameters of site condition, brief and budget to develop designs that attempt to sculpt interior, exterior space and land form into a flexible and efficient whole. Our goal is to develop innovative solutions that achieve maximum design value for our client.
We are committed to making buildings and landscapes that maximise the experience of place and improve the quality of life of the people who use them.