Split Gable House

This timber box built for an acoustician and his partner is at once introverted and expressive in its architecture.

Its split gable tested the guideline boundaries within Queenstown’s spectacular Jack’s Point development, but its angular form and vertical wooden coat are completely at home within the context of the wider environment.

Positioned on a compact wedge of land, the 180-square-metre dwelling is engineered for easy-living energy efficiency. Australian tallow-wood on the exterior provides a rustic-modern aesthetic, with environmental responsibility at its core. Recycled from telephone poles, this durable cladding will transform from tawny to silvery in time.

Wood-wrapped interiors bring a quiet, almost churchlike, feel to the main living zone where there’s sustainably sourced Southern Beech on the ceiling, dark-stained meranti ply wall panels with a fine negative detail and engineered oak flooring - a timeless tag-team of timber.

Glazing is placed to zone out the neighbours and zoom in to the scenery. Clerestory windows triangulate upwards to outline the white-dusted peaks of The Remarkables while a dropped ceiling above the kitchen counterweights the expansiveness of open-plan to be intimate and embracing.

The loft that projects into the volume adds a sleeping space for guests and an occasional office to the programme of this three-bedroom home where a rhythmical march of bathrooms and a laundry travels the south-facing elevation and a separate garage tucks into the angle of the site.

To the north, sheltered decking nestles beneath the mountains and a window seat in one corner of the living room is a place to pause on the margin of inside and out.

In the evenings, crafted interiors are softly sombre with low-key lighting that throws beams of warmth to the ceiling and floors for when winter makes its move. Private and high-performing, this is a container for contentment on the edge of adventure.