Herriot Melhuish O’Neill Architects (HMOA) director Matt Robinson said they planned to explore a mix of residential, commercial and hotel developments throughout the Queenstown and Wanaka areas.
Witnessing the movement, growth and energy in Queenstown at present was ‘‘pretty incredible’’, Mr Robinson said.
A lot of other architecture firms were moving down to Queenstown, a lot of Auckland developers were already developing there too.
‘‘Compared to Auckland, the drive and how it’s moving forward is fantastic,’’ he said.
The landscape, recreation and opportunities to be a part of something that was growing all appealed to him, Mr Robinson said.
‘‘You can see Queenstown’s going to be a city, eventually.’’
The move marked the firm’s official expansion into the Queenstown Lakes District, with Mr Robinson overseeing the design of new homes, renovations and commercial projects.
He recently completed work on the five-bedroom and four-bathroom ‘‘Jacks Point House’’, as part of the Willow Pond residential development.
HMOA has worked in Wanaka before — it partnered with a Los Angeles architectural practice to design the Californian modernist-style ‘‘Wanaka House’’, which won an architecture award in 2011.
Mr Robinson said the firm’s second Wanaka project, a three-bedroom holiday home, was also in the works.
Asked what proportion the Queenstown Lakes District would have in HMOA’s total future work, Mr Robinson said: ‘‘As big as we can make it’’.
‘‘I’d like to get into the hotels again — that would be great.
‘‘There seems to be such a shortage of accommodation in this area.’’
Given Queenstown’s rapid housing growth, it would be really important for any new projects to have good design, he said.
This demand had partially motivated the decision to expand into the region.
‘‘We’ve done quite a lot of multi-residential housing as well, so it’s good to bring those skills down here and action it.’’
Moving to Wanaka was something Mr Robinson said he had always wanted to do and happened to coincide with the company’s plans to expand into the region.
When visiting the resort town last year, he came to the realisation that Wanaka ‘‘was on the move’’.
While it seemed there were more smaller developers in Wanaka compared to Queenstown at present, it felt like this was changing.
Having grown up on a farm in Cambridge, Mr Robinson said integration with the natural landscape had always been an integral part of his design process.
HMOA was hoping to bring good, sustainable design to the Queenstown Lakes District and support the region as its growth unfolded, he said.
‘‘We’re hoping to put our stamp on it.’’
