90 | Nuku Studio ARCHITECTURE Proudly supporting Nuku Studio. 3RD, Cromwell Mobile: Ph: (03) Beautiful home shaped by place The home draws the scattered sleepouts into a series of connected pavilions, with living, dining and kitchen spaces wrapped around a central outdoor area. T T Kim Bowden “The site was flat and quite low lying…A lot of the views are as you look up, so it was about lifting those rooflines, so they captured the views at that high level.” On a flat site near the Cardrona River in Wānaka, a new family home on Faulks Road is taking shape around a clear brief: retain the essence of the client’s previous home and formalise it into a more efficient home connected to the southern landscape. The project, designed by Nuku, is being built for owners who have owned the site for more than a decade and live immediately next door. Designer Amelia Nuku says that long familiarity with the land became the starting point. “They were really aware of the site conditions and how they wanted to live on the site,” she says. “Their previous home was essentially a series of sleepouts located around a garden and outdoor living area.” The new home retains that courtyard way of living, drawing the scattered sleepouts into a series of connected pavilions, with living, dining and kitchen spaces wrapped around a central outdoor area. A key driver has also been outlook. The design works to capture long views across to Mount Roy and Criffel Peak, with Mount Aspiring visible in the distance. To the east, Mount Barker sits on the horizon. “The site was flat and quite low lying. A lot of the views are as you look up, so it was about lifting those rooflines, so they captured the views at that high level,” Amelia says. Rooflines and windows are placed to draw sightlines upward, ensuring the home remains visually connected to its wider setting rather than feeling transplanted within it. Early collaboration with Tū Tika consulting engineers and Central Trusses and Frames meant vision and structure were resolved together from the outset. “We work really collaboratively with Tū Tika; it’s a great working relationship,” Amelia says. “We bring Tū Tika in during the early phases of the design, so the structure is developed with the architecture rather than applied to it afterwards. The ability for the living pavilion to fully open to its surrounds is an example of the engineering and the design ambition being resolved together.” She describes Central Trusses and Frames as a long-established local firm that understands the demands of building in the Southern Lakes climate and is willing to work through structural options as the design is refined. Nuku is increasingly focused on sustainable residential design and long-term environmental performance. That includes passive design principles, orientating buildings to sun paths, and construction methods aimed at reducing waste. Across their projects, a simple structural grid is used to align with standard material sizes to minimise offcuts, while interiors are often restrained, with concrete slabs left exposed or additional finishes avoided. Heating systems are also considered part of that approach, with wood burners treated as backup rather than primary sources, and hydronic underfloor systems connected to solar arrays. A larger‑scale version of that thinking is underway in the North Island, where the studio is involved in a 50-home co-housing development in Norsewood. The eco-village incorporates shared infrastructure, rainwater harvesting and solar generation as part of a collective living model. It extends the same principles tested at smaller scale on Faulks Road: how homes can be shaped by place, reduce environmental impact, and, in turn, deliver better outcomes for the people who live in them. “What I’m passionate about is providing well-crafted, beautiful housing that stands the test of time, but is also ultimately environmentally responsible. Homes that people can grow old in, and that flex as their lives change,” Amelia says.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=