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Three-pavilion home connects with mountain landscape through material palette and form

Featuring local schist and looking to Lake Wanaka and Treble Cone skifields, this gable-roofed home is fully immersed in its scenery

​​​​​​​The triple peaks of this pavilion home by alps, highland, hill, home, house, andscape, roof, stone, timber, Condon Scott Architects, schist, cladding
​​​​​​​The triple peaks of this pavilion home by Condon Scott Architects echo the rugged mountains that the home’s living spaces and bedrooms look out to. Locally sourced schist and standing seam steel cladding provide the appropriately durable skin for the home and connect with the hues of the environment.

The architecture of a home does much more than offer comfortable living spaces and the best possible outlooks. Sometimes, the way of using the space and how family members can have privacy or come together is all written into the blueprint.

This home by architect Barry Condon is located on a suburban site looking to Lake Wanaka and the Southern Alps.

“Based overseas and with young child- ren, the owners were after a design that would work well in the short term as a holiday base but in the long term could be a permanent family home,” says Condon.

“They liked the idea of using gabled forms along with low upkeep cladding. Plus, they requested that all the primary spaces enjoy unobstructed views to the lake and mountains.”

In other considerations, the house had to achieve privacy from near neighbours on either side and also offer protection from the prevailing wind.


​​​​​​​Polished concrete floors run through this home. Besides architecture, building, design, floor, flooring, furniture, home, house, interior design, lighting, living room, timber ceiling, fireplace, Condon Scott Architects
​​​​​​​Polished concrete floors run through this home. Besides toning in with the mountain environment, the dense concrete acts as a heat sink, soaking up warmth from strategically positioned windows during the day and releasing it into the colder rooms at night.

With all of the above in mind, Condon designed the house with three gabled pavilions, running from east to west. The peaked forms are clad in locally sourced schist and durable standing seam steel.

“The primary central pavilion is taller than those to left and right, and as such has a soaring interior, with a feature cedar ceiling that leads the eye out to the views,” Condon says. 

“This pavilion contains the open-plan living spaces, including the kitchen, dining and living areas – with the kitchen, at the rear of the space, getting the early morning sun.”

The kitchen island is fronted in Corten steel that will verdigris over time, while the splashback is essentially the schist wall behind – the rugged stone protected by a sheet of glass to keep it pristine.

Orienting to the mountain views, the living volume opens up to a large courtyard on the side – enclosed between the central pavilion and the master bedroom pavilion. This arrangement has the added advantage of also bringing privacy from the neighbour beyond the bedroom wing. And similarly, the guest wing with garage screens the other near neighbours.

​​​​​​​Centre of attention – to ensure the central architecture, home, house, lighting, roof, siding, pavillions, Condon Scott Architects
​​​​​​​Centre of attention – to ensure the central pavilion is the most prominent on this home, architect Barry Condon stepped the garage-and-guest bedroom pavilion. This achieved the volume required for that pavilion without overshadowing the central pavilion and also helped with the owners request that all rooms access the views. This way a part of the rear guest bedroom looks past the front guest bedroom.

Back-to-back fireplaces set in a sharedschist surround service the living areas and the courtyard, another example of the schist doubling as an interior wall – effectively, bringing the outside inside.

As well as screening the neighbours left and right, the home’s layout serves as a buffer in other ways too. The master suite pavilion – complete with bedroom, walk-in robe and large ensuite – is fundamentally separated from the guest pavilion by the central living pavilion.

“This creates a more private retreat for the homeowners and means if parents or guests are staying they can close off the guest pavilion, which has three bedrooms, the main bathroom, a separate toilet and the laundry,” says Condon. 

“This design also futureproofs the home, in that if the couple do move here permanently, their children will occupy the guest wing and have a sense of separation themselves.”

Contrasting the dramatic living space, there’s a snug family room that connects the master and living pavilions. This will also be useful in later years when family members want their own space.

Credit list

Architect
Barry Condon, Condon Scott Architects
Kitchen designer
Condon Scott Architects
Cladding
Eurotray by Calder Stewart; cedar from Rosenfeld Kidson; schist, sourced locally
Window/door joinery
APL Design Windows
Paint
Resene
Benchtops
Caesarstone Raven
Sink
Blanco Subline and Blanco Metra
Oven
Fisher & Paykel
Ventilation
Schweigen Vera rangehood
Dishwasher
Bosch Series 8
Basin
Duravit
Shower fittings
Hansgrohe Export Valve shower mixer, Hansgrohe Raindance showerhead
Tiling
Walls – white matte tile, floor – Reptile D Grey M, by Parallel Tiling
Blinds and Drapes
Mckenzie and Willis
Builder
Turnkey Homes
Landscape
Ecco Landscapes
Roof
Eurotray by Calder Stewart
Main flooring
Polished concrete
Kitchen cabinets
Resene White Pointer, Resene Chicago
Splashback
Custom glass over schist
Taps
Hansgrohe Talis, Hansgrohe Variac
Cookstops
Fisher & Paykel Induction and Gas
Refrigerator
Fisher & Paykel, French door
Vanity cabinetry
Custom in oak by Masterwood Joinery
Taps
Hansgrohe Focus mixer
Bath
Starlet Flair Oval
Pendants
Secto 4200, from Simon James Design
Awards
Trends International Design Awards (TIDA) Homes – Runner Up

Story by: Charles Moxham

Photography by: Simon Devitt

23 Mar, 2019

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