This home at the foot of The Remarkables draws inspiration from traditional building styles in the region, but the interior was influenced by the owners' travels through Europe. Kim Dungey reports.
Set high on a ridge-line, this family home blends contemporary design with the gabled forms and robust materials of traditional farm buildings.
Inside, warm, tactile materials create a sense of calm and intimacy — a deliberate contrast to the rugged mountain backdrop.
Designed by Ben Hudson Architects, the house is located near Queenstown.
Owners Rob and Mel Ferguson, of Ferguson Builders, never intended to live on the Jack’s Point site, but when a client who had approached them to build a holiday home had a change of plan, they bought the plot from him.
Mrs Ferguson says they knew the view of Lake Wakatipu flanked by Cecil and Bayonet Peaks would be the "hero", but it soon became apparent that building on the section would not be straightforward.
"It’s quite long and then it expands at the south end. So trying to get the views and a practical house plan and then meet all of the Jack’s Point [design] requirements was actually quite tricky."
Hudson says the irregular, moderately-sloping site offered challenges, but also informed the final L-shaped plan.
Designed to make the most of the key views to the south, east and west, the home was also carefully planned to capture as much sun as possible from the north and uses "semi-permeable walls" to screen out neighbouring houses.
While the building form and the use of natural stone are reminiscent of Central Otago’s old farm buildings and miners’ huts, it also harks back to the simple, functional style of crofter’s cottages in Mr Ferguson’s birthplace, Scotland.
This sense of hospitality is echoed in the home’s welcoming floor plan, which includes a generous entry with parquet flooring, leading to a central kitchen and a gabled living space.
The layout allows the owners, their daughters and guests to come together in the living areas but to retain their own privacy in the bedroom wing, Hudson explains.
"The children’s bedrooms open on to a shared break-out space which has already been well-used for gatherings and parties. This shared space also opens, via a glazed slider, on to a raised lawn area, extending the kids’ recreational space on warm summer days."
The main bedroom and ensuite lead to a timber deck and a cedar-clad spa nestled among native bush and looking out to The Remarkables.
With the children’s wing closed off, the master suite and living areas can function as one cosy space, future-proofing the property for growing children and elderly relatives.
The couple wanted a beautiful home but it also had to be family-friendly and "not cost the world".
While separate "adult and kid zones" may not work when children are very young, the arrangement is ideal for their daughters, aged 8 and 10, she adds. As well as the break-out space off their bedrooms, they have their own bathroom and a large loft with mattresses for sleep-overs.
"Instead of having a second living area off the lounge, which we’ve done in the past, we put the second living area down their end of the house. When we have friends over or are entertaining, it gives the kids their own space to make as much noise as they like. And when they’re teenagers, they can be more independent."
The Queenstown woman was excited to take the lead on the interior, even though she and her husband sometimes have different opinions.
The couple have travelled extensively and this inspired many of the home’s finishes.
A European influence is evident in the stone, which is mortared in a traditional way; the timber parquet flooring, which is often seen in homes in the UK; and the courtyard with its stone fireplace, antique furniture and pots, which reminds them of their travels in the south of France.
The master bedroom features panelling behind the bed — a "modern twist" on traditional wainscoting — while the bathrooms have V-groove panelling and aged brass fittings. The mosaic marble floor tiles in the bathrooms, like the cobblestones on the streets of Paris, are laid in a fan pattern.
Originally, they’d planned a farmhouse-style kitchen. However, they later decided to go more modern, pairing dark cabinets in a slim Shaker profile with a traditional Falcon oven.
"That was something I’d loved for a long time and we kept saying we weren’t going to do it because it’s a really expensive product," Mrs Ferguson says. "But it actually has beautiful tones in it that really match the mountain and lake views that we have here, so we thought if there was ever a time to do it, it was at this house."
The end result is a home that is modern and elegant but full of character.
It’s also one they are in no hurry to leave.
"We’re both super happy here," she says. "We really, really love it."
