Guided by the Site’s Natural Movement – The Wanaka House by RTA Studio

Taking cues from the natural movement of the landscape it sits within, The Wanaka House is anchored through select masonry while opening up to enviable outlooks. RTA Studio combines a respectful and contextually appropriate approach to propose a home of purpose, warmth and refinement.

Nestled into the abundant natural landscape to the west of Lake Wanaka, The Wanaka House is sited within a uniquely identified subdivision of ecologically and environmentally sustainable housing known as Emerald Bluffs. The location and its provisions are the result of the area being characterised by local authorities as ‘outstanding landscape’, requiring additional attention and an extended planning process to ensure its preservation. While the home sits burrowed into its hillside, it also follows the natural slope of the site, taking cues from the natural movement of formations in the area. The site is immersed into protected native vegetation and emerges through bold linear planes that open up through equally generous glazing elements to connect visually to the landscape. RTA Studio combines warmth and locally sourced materiality to create a befitting resolve.

The site is immersed into protected native vegetation and emerges through bold linear planes that open up through equally generous glazing elements to connect visually to the landscape.

Built by Wanaka Builders, with engineering by Harris Foster Consulting, The Wanaka House sits on its own stone base. Similar to the way in which the geology of the area has formed, with pressure creating movement and shifting of the schist rock, a natural platform juts out and it is here that the house rests. This grounding stone base then houses the living and sleeping elements inside what appears as its own pavilion formation. Nestled in under this main form is an additional subterranean level that is imbedded into the site and becomes the entry experience, ascending upward into the main gathering spaces. Optimising its location, the expansive use of floor-to-ceiling glass wraps the northern end of the home, where the living, kitchen and dining spaces reside, and the more recessive functions are then placed to the southern edge. While the sleeping areas take on a more intimate and passive approach, the views toward the Treble Cone Ski Ara and Mt Roy are a reminder of the engulfing natural beauty of the home’s location, from all directions.

Comprised of stone, timber and glass, there is a resounding warmth to the structure of the home, both internally and externally. From approach, the elements appropriately fit the landscape as they have been selected for their locality, reinforcing an appropriateness of context. From within, that same warmth and sense of the natural is expressed through the textural honesty of each finish, enveloping the experience. Aligning with the ecological and environmental sustainability requirements of the development, the client wanted to ensure optimal mitigation of energy consumption and reliance. Integrated into the fabric sees the use of locally sourced schist and sustainable timbers, low e-glass, increased insulation, additional thermal mass to all vertical and horizontal planes, energy efficient lighting, high efficiency heat pump heating, wetback water heating, onsite storm and sewage management and solar generated energy and water heating.

Optimising its location, the expansive use of floor to ceiling glass wraps the northern end of the home, where the living, kitchen and dining spaces reside, and the more recessive functions are then placed to the southern edge.

The Wanaka House is an exemplar in integrated systems and designing with consciousness. RTA Studio has carefully crafted a site-sensitive and high functioning home that both responds and respects its context, while intelligibly utilising locally sourced materials to allow immersion into such a unique and enviable landscape.

From within, that same warmth and sense of the natural is expressed through the textural honesty of each finish, enveloping the experience.

RTA Studio have carefully crafted a site-sensitive and high functioning home that both responds and respects its context, while intelligibly utilising locally sourced materials to allow immersion into such a unique and enviable landscape.