House of the Year

The Registered Master Builders House of the Year competition recognises the very best homes, builders, and crafts people across New Zealand. The southern awards were handed out last weekend with winners from all parts of the South. The Otago Daily Times takes a look at some of the winners.

Supreme house of the year, more than $1 million

Not Schist a Pretty Face, Queenstown

John Gavin Construction

On the site of Queenstown’s original schist quarry is this luxury three-bedroom home that uses the stone once hewed from its land to stunning effect.

The 650sq m property sits above the Shotover River with views of Coronet Peak and the Remarkables. There is an entertainer’s kitchen complete with scullery, wine cellar, media room, north-facing timber decks, barbecue area, five-car garage, and en suites attached to each of the bedrooms. The home is warm year round thanks to thermally broken aluminium windows with low E Argon filled double glazing, hydronic in-floor heating and ducted airconditioning. The two-wing design lets the owners open and close parts of the house as required.

New home over $4 million

Art & Soul, St Clair, Dunedin

W. Hamilton Building

This Dunedin home is a piece of art itself. On paper, the three-storey address has two bedrooms, two bathrooms and two spacious living areas.

It also has a storage room complete with bespoke racking, a separate arts and crafts room and an indoor pool. The structure of the 415sq m home is concrete, poured in situ. The exterior, including the soffits, is clad in standing seam Eurotray with a flush mounted entry door and garage door.

Steel beams support the home’s many cantilevered sections. Concrete and bespoke steelwork also feature in the internal finishing. Leading off the entry lobby there is a lift and a curved metal staircase that was craned in before the hot roof was completed.

Supreme house of the year, under $1 million

We will rock you, Central Otago

Hunter & Craig Architectural Design & Build

This 189sq m hillside retreat frames and highlights the special features around it, including a glass corner shower that gets up close and personal with the rock.

Tight resource consent requirements dictated the house should not be seen from public spaces and that the natural skyline be preserved. This necessitated significant rock excavation to create a platform for the cedar and metal-clad home, which is just 100mm from vertical rock faces in some places. The floor plan has two sections, each with a bedroom and a bathroom, connected by a long hallway/gallery running between outcrops.

Regional gold builder’s own home

Raw beauty, Lake Hayes

Form Construction

Black steel is the star of this build with the exposed structural beams and trusses, a hovering fireplace, firewood storage and a floating staircase where treads merge into balusters in a single sculptural piece. Polished concrete floors add to the curated vibe that adeptly mixes the industrial with the luxurious. At 442sq m and with four bedrooms, four bathrooms, two living rooms, media room and a massive five-car garage, this home is an example of a powerful form executed with finesse.

Regional silver $500,000-$750,000

Flight of Fancy, Wanaka

Home Factor

The architectural design and build of the three-bedroom home is all about emulating the world from the point of view of a tui on the wing — soft curves, colours, organic lines and complementing textures.

This house is grounded in the land. Inside, forest green makes a statement in the kitchen; floating shelves are designed to emulate tree branches. Bedrooms are sunny and airy, and the main suite has a pastel-green painted design behind the bed, emulating the tui’s plumage.

Every part of this lovely home feels like a journey through a forest — from a tui’s point of view.