Landing place: West Meadows house

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The home is sited a few streets back from the lake in Wanaka, with mountain and water vistas abounding.

The home is sited a few streets back from the lake in Wanaka, with mountain and water vistas abounding. Image: Simon Devitt

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Views can be spied from many different areas of the house.

Views can be spied from many different areas of the house. Image: Simon Devitt

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The home features large expanses of glazing, including high-level windows for those mountain vistas.

The home features large expanses of glazing, including high-level windows for those mountain vistas. Image: Simon Devitt

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The kitchen island is clad in cedar battens and topped with shining stainless steel.

The kitchen island is clad in cedar battens and topped with shining stainless steel. Image: Simon Devitt

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The house opens on two sides to the rear courtyard, which is completely sheltered from the winds that come off the lake.

The house opens on two sides to the rear courtyard, which is completely sheltered from the winds that come off the lake. Image: Simon Devitt

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A water feature provides a view for the guest bedrooms and a playful space in which to rest and cool off in the summer.

A water feature provides a view for the guest bedrooms and a playful space in which to rest and cool off in the summer. Image: Simon Devitt

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The rear courtyard features an outdoor fireplace, making it a popular congregation spot year-round.

The rear courtyard features an outdoor fireplace, making it a popular congregation spot year-round. Image: Simon Devitt

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The master suite adjoins the living room and benefits from the natural light flowing in the high-level windows on the end walls of 
the house.

The master suite adjoins the living room and benefits from the natural light flowing in the high-level windows on the end walls of the house. Image: Simon Devitt

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The rear view of the house, taken from the shed, shows a pared-back palette of natural and rustic materials.

The rear view of the house, taken from the shed, shows a pared-back palette of natural and rustic materials. Image: Simon Devitt

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The translucent exterior cladding on the shed is the <a 
href="https://everlight.co.nz/"style="color:#3386FF"target="_blank"><u>Danpal</u></a> light-transmitting architectural system, which provides optimal solar and thermal comfort in the building envelope and can be used for both roof and walls.

The translucent exterior cladding on the shed is the Danpal light-transmitting architectural system, which provides optimal solar and thermal comfort in the building envelope and can be used for both roof and walls. Image: Simon Devitt

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The dining are features a custom made 3.3m x 1.0m American oak timber table by James Turner from <a 
href="http://maelstromdesign.co.nz/"style="color:#3386FF"target="_blank"><u>Maelstrom Design</u></a>, which is colour matched to the ply veneer of the <a 
href="https://www.ufl.co.nz/"style="color:#3386FF"target="_blank"><u>UFL</u></a> chairs.

The dining are features a custom made 3.3m x 1.0m American oak timber table by James Turner from Maelstrom Design, which is colour matched to the ply veneer of the UFL chairs. Image: Simon Devitt

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With lakeside views and an alpine backdrop, this award-winning South Island house by Three Sixty Architecture is perfectly positioned to be a home for all seasons.

This Wanaka home expands and contracts when needed, making it a cosy refuge for the home-owner couple while also providing space for visitors.

Their lives have been predominantly based in Christchurch but architect Chris Prebble and designer Jenny Prebble always had a foot (or two) in Wanaka. Now, reaching retirement age and with their children grown and left the nest, it was time to put down some solid roots in the mountain town.

As a director at Three Sixty Architecture with more than 30 years’ architectural experience, Chris had a pleasant challenge in designing a home overlooking the lake for himself and his wife. They found an elevated site a few streets back from the lake, which benefited from a rural outlook to the rear and a lake view to the front. It was important that the home was not too large for the couple but that it could accommodate family and friends when required.

The home features large expanses of glazing, including high-level windows for those mountain vistas. Image:  Simon Devitt

“This space here is fantastic when it’s just the two of us,” Chris says, referring to the living nook that adjoins the kitchen. “Jenny’s computer, two seats, a fire, a TV: that’s all you need.” The lakefront face defines their home when the couple is alone. From left to right, they have their nook, the kitchen, the dining room, the living room and then the master suite. The rest of the house – containing guest bedrooms and bathrooms – can be closed off, with no heating or hot water supplied when it isn’t needed.

The kitchen island is clad in cedar battens and topped with shining stainless steel. Image:  Simon Devitt

The kitchen is clad in vertical cedar panels, which mask the pantry and cupboards. This is juxtaposed against the stainless-steel benchtop and the grey tiled floor. The island expands into an informal dining table with a honed slate top. “That makes such a wonderful congregation spot,” says Jenny. “It’s bulletproof and easy to keep clean, and the black steel legs make it appear quite striking. People are drawn to here.”

The same cedar panels used in the kitchen also carry through to the entrance area, to the rear of the house. Along with the stone floor tiles, which are used everywhere from the bathrooms to the outdoor courtyard, and the light-stained pine ceiling, this creates a sense of consistency that is evident throughout the home.

A double-sided gas fireplace in a partial wall divides the dining table from the living space. With concrete coating on the dining side, this retains some solar gain thanks to the upper-level glazing that carries through the tops of the walls. 

“The sun comes up in the morning and you get all this light that comes right over those walls,” says Chris. “The windows in the outside walls are triple glazed and there is underfloor water-to-air heating beneath the tiles but, mostly, we don’t need it because of the solar gain. We were in Christchurch for four days last week and came back and the house was sitting at 22 degrees with everything off.”

A pond provides some division between the guest and the master suites. This is a key feature of the home and has the appearance of the natural streams that run through Wanaka. Globe lights float in it and water flows from a Corten steel spout. “You can sit there in the summer and have a beer. Young kids will play in there for hours; it’s safe at only 400mm deep,” says Chris.

The rear courtyard features an outdoor fireplace, making it a popular congregation spot year-round. Image:  Simon Devitt

This area and the rear courtyard are entirely sheltered from the prevailing winds that come off the lake. The rear courtyard features an outdoor fireplace, making it a popular congregation spot year-round. Across the driveway, a two-storeyed ‘shed’ provides a workshop and more guest accommodation. This simple, Eurotray-clad form with red ‘eyebrows’ references the rural nature of the land behind the property.

Chris and Jenny might not be completely done with their lives in Christchurch, still ducking back every few weeks, but they are clearly at home in their house in Wanaka.

Material Palette

We talk to architect Chris Prebble about the textural interior cedar detailing and the eye-catching translucent cladding on the ‘shed’ exterior. 

The vertical cedar panels in the kitchen and entry foyer are a work of art. How did they come about?

Chris Prebble (CP): Six different-sized cedar profiles were meticulously pieced together to give the wonderful vertical rhythm of this natural product. We expressed the end grain, where possible, to the tops of the cupboard doors and made sure we avoided protruding the benchtops over the tops of this vertical element. We then used a rich, dark interior stain to seal the cedar.

Tell us about the innovative cladding used on the exterior of the ‘shed’.

CP: Danpalon is an insulated, double-skinned, translucent polycarbonate product. It allowed us to achieve a soft, continuous flow of light from the eastern façade to both the garage below and the two bedrooms in the loft above, while still providing superior insulation and no change to the comfortable ambient temperature of the shed. The panels are in continuous lengths of up to 11 metres long; this allowed us to maintain a seamless approach to the exterior.


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