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Butel Park, to the West of Arrowtown is a residential development intended to comprise houses that reflect the historic Arrowtown Character, identified as being a simple architectural vernacular sitting on large sections completed with extensive gardens and deciduous trees, and not dominated by garage doors. Like many developments in the Wakatipu, the area is subject to design controls and a design approval process, in regard to form, roof shape and pitch, and material controls.

Set back on its site against a reserve, the Wright house gives the majority of the site over to a leveled lawn, and garden. The simple cottage form and reduced pallette of colour and material play the house as recessive to the garden, and surrounding mountains.

The compact house is rectangular in form, with bedrooms split each side of a central living space. The central living area has a higher ceiling than the bedroom ends, however the whole roof is trussed with flat ceilings throughout. Externally the roofline has a cental raised portion of flatter pitch. The house is predominantly carpentry focussed, with a timber piled foundation. This enabled high speed construction techniques; the house took only 16 weeks to construct.

The design and construction privileges thermal performance, and as such utilises compact design form, airtightness, low volume mechanical heat recovery ventilation system, orientation, eaves and window placement to reduce summer solar gain and promote winter solar gain, superinsulation, thermal bridge reduction, low thermal mass, low energy lighting (primarily LED) and solar assisted hot water heating.

Having employed these techniques the house maintains ambient indoor temperatures with low energy electrical inputs.

The house was published in HOME New Zealand in 2014 and featured in the NZ House & Garden 2015 Queenstown Home Tour.

Assembly Architects
Otago
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Wright House
Wright House
Wright House
Wright House
Wright House
Wright House
Wright House
Wright House
Wright House

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Wright House

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Professional

Assembly is an Arrowtown based architecture practice delivering bespoke architecture with personality, environmental engagement and considered construction.

While the majority of our work is in housing, we have a reputation for innovation and collaboration resulting in a diverse portfolio including commercial, public and tourism projects and prefabricated buildings.

Assembly have developed expertise in many types of housing, including stand alone bespoke houses across a wide budget spectrum, housing development, and multi-generational housing. Our homes are decidedly individual, representing the diversity of clients and sites, materials and structure. We have expertise in rammed earth homes, recognized with finalist placings for the Terra Award, the first international prize for earthen architecture, and the NZ HOME of the Year.

Registered Architects Louise Wright and Justin Wright established Assembly in Wellington in 2005, and moved to Arrowtown in 2012.  The studio includes a diverse and talented team of architects, architecture graduates, architectural technicians and administrative support.

In 2019 Assembly was a founding signatory to the NZ Architect’s Declare Climate & Biodiversity Emergency.

Assembly is a New Zealand Institute of Architects practice.