Balquhidder
Awards
2010
Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects Nelson Marlborough Architecture Award (Residential)
Wild Tomato Architecture Award - Best Home Under $1m
Wild Tomato Architecture Awards - Supreme Winner
2009
Publications
2010
21st Century Houses Downunder, Mark Cleary, The Images Publish Group, Australia, pg 32-35
Wild Tomato, Nov, pg 42-43
2009
For this vineyard house, a low and simple form seemed appropriate to the broad rural landscape, but a challenge emerged in a Council stipulation that the floor should be set 2m above ground level as an assurance against flooding. Finding a way to fit a raised building to the site therefore became a major determinant. In the end we decided to fit the site to the building. Elevating the house on drilled timber poles, thousands of cubic metres of fill were trucked in and spread to form a gentle mound rising to the perimeter decks. Only a carport sits at original ground level, seemingly excavated and anchored to retaining walls which extend out into the landscape. Materials are wood and neutral plasterboard, with a nod to nearby rural buildings in the sparing use of barn red.