In New Zealand

New Zealand, South Island: two juxtaposed volumes make up a family home nestled in the landscape. The concrete tower, on the left, looks like a rock rising out of the ground and from the bedroom, upstairs, it ensures a 360° view of the surrounding landscape.

A T T H E E D G E O F T H E W O R L D

A N e w Z e a l a n d l o d g e u n v e i l s i t s t w o f o l d s p i r i t : o n o n e h a n d i t c a m o u f l a g e s i t s e l f a s t o a l m o s t d i s a p p e a r , w h i l e o n t h e o t h e r , i t s t r o n g l y d r a w s a t t e n t i o n

words by Paola Maraone — photos by Simon Wilson

The Queenstown area, where the house stands, is dominated by a luxuriant nature, at times wild, in which the part of the building topped by the green roof almost disappears. Next page, in the living room, floor-to-ceiling windows amplify the dialogue with the landscape. The simple but comfortable straw armchairs are inspired by the traditional chairs of the Orkney Islands.

The kitchen, a single large room, is the heart of the house. On the ceiling, cedar wood used for beams and panelling conveys a sense of warmth and simplicity, accentuated by neutral hues and natural materials; on the walls, rough plaster recalls the exterior finish.

Rocks formations and emerald hills, bodies of water and volcanoes. Suddenly, a green architecture appears between the lake and mountains. New Zealand: we’re in Queenstown, in the southernmost part of the South Island, among the evocative scenery of the Southern Alps. A paradise for nature lovers and a starting point for strategic excursions where, in recent years, a family from the North Island dreamt to establish its second home. “The process hasn’t been straightforward”, explains Tim Hay, who designed the architecture in collaboration with Jeff Fearon. “To begin with, the customer spent time exploring and getting to know the area. Later on, the planning took a year and a half, the actual build another two years”. The outcome bears the evocative name of Matagouri Lodge (the same of a thorny, endemic plant in the area) and “was conceived by ongoing conversations with the client, with whom we cocreated a narrative concept. For them it was important to use natural materials and warm hues, starting with understanding the place where the house would be built, the colours, the vegetation; the final objective was to add the landscape’s colours and textures inside the architecture”. And here it is: a building that is mostly structured horizontally, covered by a green roof in order better insert itself into the surrounding environment. Laterally, a vertical concrete volume emerges from the soil almost like a rocky outcrop, attracting the gaze. “We didn’t want the building to disappear completely. Instead, we wanted it to be mysterious, mimetic, but with a simple, strong design, a kind of tower rising towards the sky with a panoramic outlook; on the top level, the bedrooms have a 360° view over the lake and mountains”, with a kind of ‘complete freedom’ to counterpoint the – limited albeit generous – possibilities of the spaces below. As for the building, Hay continues to explain, “the initial concept was to create a house that lessened the requirements for steel. The roof features structural timber elements supporting a green cover that mitigates interior temperatures and provides the project with an ecological imprint. For the customer, the use of green materials and strategies to make the entire building sustainable were paramount”. Even the shape of the roof completely blends into the landscape: “We didn’t want to limit ourselves by making a flat roof with plants on top, so we followed the outline of the terrain and the knolls surrounding the house”. The same criteria apply to the interiors inspired by Shaker culture: minimalist design, function before form, neutral tones, utensils hung on the walls. “The client’s brief was to create a rural cottage”, interior designer Dawdy Brown who worked on the project tells us. An honourable mention goes to “the traditional, high-back chair from the Orkney Islands that stood quietly and reassuringly in a corner of my childhood home and was the inspiration for these interiors. Designed to shelter its inhabitants from any drafts, with golden oat straw bundles tied to a wooden frame, it fully embodies the feeling of craftsmanship and simplicity we dreamed of attaining”. –

“ T h e p r o c e s s h a s n ’ t b e e n s t r a i g h t - f o r w a r d . T h e p l a n n i n g t o o k a y e a r a n d a h a l f , t h e a c t u a l b u i l d a n o t h e r t w o y e a r s ”

Tim Hay

Above, the sleeping quarters have windows on all sides for a unique view. Opposite page, above, view from outside the tower that houses the bedroom, clad in weatherproof concrete and bordered by a green roof; below, a glimpse of the en suite bathroom in the master bedroom. Vieques bathtub by Patricia Urquiola for Agape.

The private garden is a sheltered courtyard conveying a sense of protection from the wind while catching the sun’s rays. Next page, the roof that plays with the topography by merging with it, on the courtyard side, has a curved edge which softens its profile and introduces the green covering.