At the recent Otago/Southland Architectural Design Awards, Daniel Friedrich won the ‘residential new home between 150sqm and 300sqm’ award for ‘Twin Peak House’, which he designed for its builder, Rob Ferguson.
The Raglan-based former Queenstowner, who still does work here, says he was gobsmacked to win because he’d not entered a competition before.
The judges said “fire and ice meet in this lovely home, centred on a spectacular living space”, and called it “a toasty refuge in the southern wilds”.
Freidrich, of DF Design – Sustainable Architecture, is a former builder who gained a master’s degree in architecture in his native Germany.
He says a mix of things impressed the judges.
“It’s very liveable, it’s very comfortable, it’s warm, it’s energy-efficient and it sits well within its environment.”
A striking feature is the Siberian larch cladding, which Friedrich says is used a lot in Europe due to its durability.
In terms of going for a low-carbon footprint, he notes the irony of importing the windows from Germany, but says heat-loss calculations show they halve the heating demand of comparable New Zealand joinery.
He says he’s pleased that the Jack’s Point design review board allows more flexibility for designers to push the boundaries than it used to.
Meanwhile, long-time local architectural designer Murray Bennett was awarded a ‘highly commended’ in the same category for his ‘Threepwood Escape’ design.
He designed the low-slung 299sqm home near Lake Hayes for local interior designer Sue Nauman and her partner Steve Fraser.
Bennett’s worked with Nauman, who designed this home, too, a number of times – “I’m a concrete and timber man and Sue makes my concrete and timber look nice”.
He likens the stone supports at either end to bookends at each end of a book shelf.
He notes that in this area of Threepwood, roof pitches have to be somewhere between 25 and 40 degrees.
“We got consent for about 12 or 15 degrees – it sits into the landscape really well, whereas others at 40 degrees are quite dominant.”
Bennett says the design’s “a simple solution to a great site, and all credit to Sue and Steve – I can’t produce something really nice unless the clients are willing to go down the same track”.
The national awards will be held during Architectural Designers NZ’s annual conference in Queenstown from October 17 to 19.
