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Wanaka House

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With a passion for music, food, entertaining and their enjoyment of the Wanaka vistas, the architectural brief centred around a Central Otago couple wanting to celebrate life in their golden years. Read more
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A stunning architectural response to the dramatic landscapes of Central Otago, Wanaka House celebrates life with playful roof forms and sustainable design, earning accolades including a finalist position in the 2014 Home Magazine Home of the Year and a 2016 NZIA Award for Domestic Architecture.

With a passion for music, food, entertaining and their enjoyment of the Wanaka vistas, the architectural brief centred around a Central Otago couple wanting to celebrate life in their golden years.

The dramatic landscape is ever present and the house connects to this and responds to the varying extremes of the local climate. The playful roof forms and design of the house draws inspiration from the original bivouac shelters pitched into the tough schist terrains of Central Otago. The house is conceived as a frame set into the land over which fabric is draped. An in-situ concrete wall runs through west corner offering a means to anchor the undulating roof within the site whist also offering a practical thermal mass element to heat and cool with.

This project was a finalist for 2014 Home Magazine Home of the year, and recipient of a 2016 NZIA New Zealand Award for Domestic Architecture.

Click here to read the Home New Zealand 'Home of the Year' 2014 Article 

4.7K3h 38m

Professional Reviews

1 / 7

“The team from LOCA took our brief and budget and designed a light-filled, inviting home for us. In particular we appreciate the sculptural form of the house and how well it nestles in to the end of the ridge line. Kudos to Ana for the bold choice in the brilliant exterior paint colours which light up the neighbourhood at night. Tim provided timely and skilled solutions during the build when invariably changes were required. We were impressed with his ability to sketch details with a pencil and paper in the northerly gales that a builder could easily understand. Ben was fantastic at helping with the joinery details and the lighting including sourcing both new and vintage lights. It was a pleasure to work with them and we were impressed with how they responded to our suggestions along the way.”

Barbara and Nick

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