New home captures forerunner’s ‘lovely feel’

Set in a garden with mature oak trees, this Wanaka house by RTA Studio enjoys a strong connection with nature. PHOTOS: BIDDI ROWLEY

A Wānaka house honours the past while ensuring a comfortable future for its occupants. Kim Dungey reports.

The owners of this award-winning property in Wānaka faced a difficult decision — whether to renovate the 1970s house on the site or build a new one in its place.

While there were many things about the house they liked, it also had some shortcomings, one of the owners says, adding they wanted to have a warm house and would have struggled to bring it up to the Building Code.

A partial concrete wall divides the dining area from the living room while maintaining a sense of openness. The dining table is from Backhouse in Wellington and the oak chairs have been in the owners’ family for many years.

Ultimately, they decided to demolish the home, which had been built as a retirement property for her husband’s late parents. But after holidaying in it for a decade and living in it fulltime for three years, they wanted to replicate the best aspects in the new build.

"There were quite a lot of issues with [the old house] but there was a lovely feel about it, which amazingly has sort of been transferred to this [new] one," she says.

"The old house had courtyards and garden areas that [wrapped around it] and we have that here."

"Big book shelves, sunny window seats and things like that have been repeated as well."

A patio opens off the kitchen and dining areas. The owners wanted a warm, low-maintenance home that made the most of the sun and had ‘‘good outdoor spaces’’.

When it came to engaging an architect, the former Wellington couple opted for Auckland-based RTA Studio. Longtime admirers of the firm’s work, they particularly liked the "pared-back simplicity" of the holiday home founder Richard Naish and his wife, Andrea Hotere, built in the Cardrona Valley.

The architects say while there was strong emotional attachment to the original house, the building was no longer fit for purpose.

"It was modest in scale, poorly insulated and lacked the thermal performance required for year-round comfort in Wānaka’s climate. Renovating would have required significant structural and thermal upgrades, and ultimately wouldn’t have achieved the long-term vision the clients had for a warm, efficient home that could welcome extended family."

Surrounded by mature oak trees, the four-bedroom house is composed of two main pavilions arranged in a split-level plan to respond to the site’s contours.

Black-stained exterior timber contrasts with a warm interior palette.

These two pavilions — one containing living areas; the other, bedrooms — are linked by a glazed connection that acts as a threshold between public and private spaces.

The bedroom wing is set slightly lower, creating a subtle separation in scale and experience while maintaining a cohesive whole.

Sustainability was key, with passive design principles ensuring energy efficiency. A high-performance thermal envelope, heat recovery ventilation and photovoltaics reduce the home’s environmental impact.

The kitchen cabinetry is made from American ash.

The exterior cladding is Abodo heat-treated pine.

Although they encountered asbestos when they pulled the old house down and Covid lockdowns later, the process was stress-free, the owner says.

"It was excellent working with the architects and we were also very lucky with the building company [Breen Construction]."

While the house has several hard surfaces, including concrete floors and a board-formed concrete wall, a timber-lined acoustic ceiling works well to soften reverberation, she adds.

A covered outdoor room opens off the kitchen. External wooden screens can be positioned to block out the sun in summer or stacked to the sides of the windows in winter.

Another feature they like is the slatted wooden screens on the outside of the windows, which can be moved to block out the sun in summer or stacked to the sides in winter.

They were also pleased to find their initial concerns that the new house could stand out too much were unfounded. Enveloped by garden, it is similar to the original in that it’s "tucked in" and unobtrusive.

That aspect was also praised by the judges when the project received an award in the 2025 Southern Architecture Awards.

Each of the four bedrooms open on to a small deck, with steps leading down to the lawn.

"The relationship with the former dwelling on the site ... is evident in the new forms, which appear deceivingly modest from the street but expand inwards to hug a central terrace," they said.

"In a location often bound by attempts to capture expansive mountain views, the house provides a refreshing contrast by nestling itself into the established landscape."