Anyone who has been to Wanaka will rave about the awe-inspiring beauty of the pristine lake and rugged mountain ranges. The alpine environment has a supernatural scenery that has attracted many newcomers to the area, and new subdivisions are filling up at pace.

But an alpine environment has another prominent feature: extreme weather across the seasons. In Wanaka, temperatures regularly hit the mid-30s in summer, and drop well below zero in winter.

For houses built in the area, it means special attention must be paid to thermal performance, light and materiality.

For Barry Condon’s client, who required a home on an elevated subdivision site overlooking the lake, comfort was key.

“We have designed to cater to the extremes of the Otago climate so it's heavily insulated, it's got a thermally broken floor slab, and we've tried to make it as energy efficient as possible.”

When it came to the form of the building, letting light right into the recesses of the home was essential in creating a warm and welcoming home, while also controlling shade and reducing heat inside in the summer.

The home is conceived as three pavilions (with an adjoining garage), each with its own low-pitched roofline and deep soffits for shade and heat reduction. The central living pavilion has the highest roofline of the three, letting light right into the back of the living space during winter, while the master suite is in the far pavilion, and the guest wing is closest to the entrance.

From the street, the home presents a private face to the world, with clerestory windows letting light into the guest wing. The entry foyer space opens into a gallery, which was key to the client’s brief for a space to display their art.

Immediately on the left-hand side is the guest bedroom area, and then as you move down the corridor, there's glazed sliders, which open out to a courtyard that looks out to the view.

The three pavilions are formatted in a way that offers another recessed outdoor courtyard space at the back. Each courtyard is sheltered from the wind and sun at different times of the day, allowing the client to enjoy outdoor living and entertaining, year-round.

The courtyard at the rear of the living space has a series of movable screens that filter light and offer privacy from a laneway that runs down the back perimeter of the property.

Both courtyards have operable louvred roofs and schist chimneys, offering perfectly sheltered and warm spaces for both summer and winter evenings.

The home’s exterior material palette sticks to a materiality that is common to the area.

“We've kept the palette pretty limited – we have generally used cedar, schist and some metals, and we have external exposed steel fascias that are a nice detail running right around the perimeter of the house. These are all quite common materials in this part of the world, and are tried and tested, so we know they're going to perform in this climate.”

In the interior, Condon Scott Architects worked with Melanie Craig Design to deliver rich and textural spaces, which compliment the robust exterior material palette.

The polished concrete floors extend right throughout the living spaces and tie in nicely with the external schist elements that can be seen through floor-to-ceiling glazing – “Then we've got the lovely warmth of the cedar on the ceiling just to make it feel homely and cosy; it also helps to bring the ceiling down a bit and reduce the room’s volume.”

Barry says the success of the home is in the duality of privacy and spectacular views: it screens the home nicely from the street and laneway, while never losing light and warmth, and connection to the stunning lake setting.

Yet in spite of the jaw-dropping views, it’s the courtyard out the back that is Barry’s favourite part of the home.

“The client has done some lovely work in that space with landscaping – they've put in a beautiful fernery, and you can sit there in the evening and experience dappled light through the screens – it's just a really lovely space.”

Words: Jo seton

Images: Simon Devitt