SUMICH CHAPLIN

Traditional

Speargrass House

Information +

Our client relocated from Sydney to Queenstown and wanted a family home and lifestyle to raise their young boys. They wished to create an environment that immersed their family in rural living with the opportunity to take full advantage of farm life and the activities on offer in the Wakatipu community. 

The site is a 35-hectare property located on Speargrass Flat Road.

It is elevated in a majestic location above the Wakatipu Basin.  The outlook is dramatic with a north aspect to Coronet Peak and a stunning south aspect to the basin below with The Remarkables beyond. 

The house is set on a natural plateau up a steep incline above Speargrass Flat Road.  The design response was to plan a series of single level structures on the plateau around a central north orientated courtyard with the main living space opening to both the north and south aspects.

The intention was to create domestic scale within a dramatic rural landscape. 

The forms are traditional in shape but have a hierarchy based on height and materiality.  The main living and bedrooms, being the highest forms, are clad in schist rockwork and stained cedar.  The schist cladding is washed with a mineral paint, light in colour.  This is in reference to the historic limewashed stone dwellings on the neighbouring property. 

The roof of the main living form opens up to the views both north and south, with an inverted gable reflecting an old deer run structure that was found on the property on the first site visit.  The secondary forms of garage and guest, are clad in the weatherboards only.  All forms are linked together by triple glazed flat-roofed galleries and natural rock landscape walls.

Design
Matt Chaplin, Darren Joyce

Interiors
Arent and Pyke, Sydney, Matt Chaplin

Landscape
Suzanne Turley Landscapes

Engineer
Lewis Bradford

Contractor
RBJ Construction

Photography
Simon Devitt