Cloaked in Timber – Te Kaitaka by Stevens Lawson

Words by Rose Onans
Photography by Mark Smith

Set on rolling, tussock-covered hills with Lake Wanaka below and soaring mountains above, Te Kaitaka by Stevens Lawson takes its inspiration from local building traditions and reflects the forms, textures and hues of the surrounding landscape.

The word from which the project takes its name means cloak in the Maori language, symbolising nurture and shelter. Te Kaitaka is cloaked in natural cedar, which wraps even over the roof to create a subtle form that blends seamlessly into the soft natural tones of the tussock grasses covering the surrounding hills. Choosing to cloak the building in this way, such that it appears to become one with the hill, is emblematic of the architects’ approach, which sought to dispense with typical architectural ideas and structures and instead embrace the oblique angles and non-orthogonal forms of the surrounding alpine landscape.

The word from which the project takes its name means cloak in the Maori language, symbolising nurture and shelter. Te Kaitaka is cloaked in natural cedar, which wraps even over the roof to create a subtle form that blends seamlessly into the soft natural tones of the tussock grasses covering the surrounding hills. Choosing to cloak the building in this way, such that it appears to become one with the hill, is emblematic of the architects’ approach, which sought to dispense with typical architectural ideas and structures and instead embrace the oblique angles and non-orthogonal forms of the surrounding alpine landscape.

The project needed to conform to planning regulations that required the building to fit within a 25-metre by 25-metre square. The design process began, simply, with a piece of paper. The architects tilted the paper to echo the slope of the land and proceeded to make cuts and origami-like folds, with courtyards to the east and west, and skylights punctuating the roof. The roof then folded down to form the walls, enclosing the space within and emphasising the sense that the roof and walls are a series of related planes. An expected rectilinear structure would have been an inappropriate intervention on the site, marring the ancient, otherwise untouched landscape. Instead, the forms and textures create a sculptural architectural presence that is simultaneously sensitive and reminiscent of the vernacular woolsheds that are dotted throughout the region.

The external timber cloak protects an interior constructed from raw, pre-cast concrete, creating a robust, cave-like atmosphere and reversing the more typical pairing of concrete exterior and timber interior. With the planning regulations requiring a compact building, it was not possible to stretch the building along the site to take advantage of the views over the lake. A further challenge was the fact that the lake views are oriented to the south, making it difficult to balance the desire to capture the view with passive solar design principles. In keeping with the project’s overall willingness to break with tradition, the design does not merely install walls of glazing to indiscriminately open up to the view, rather, a more subtle, curated approach is taken that carefully frames selected moments. Angular skylights bring shafts of northern light deep into the home, creating an almost spiritual atmosphere that brings the cavernous concrete spaces into relief.

The tactility of the pre-cast concrete, rough-hewn schist floors, and band sawn oiled timber ceilings lends the interior an earthy, protective quality.

In a region famed for its dramatic landscape of deep valleys, carved over thousands of years by ancient glaciers that dissect the rugged mountain ranges, Stevens Lawson has created a work of architecture that demonstrates a profound understanding of the contours and subtleties of the land. As the tussock grasses cloak the hills, the cedar exterior shelters the interior whose robust materiality recalls the nearby caves and ravines – a synchronicity that allows not only the views but the architecture itself to evoke the presence of the landscape.

The design process began, simply, with a piece of paper.

Stevens Lawson has created a work of architecture that demonstrates a profound understanding of the contours and subtleties of the land.