Completed in 2020 in New Zealand. Images by Simon Devitt, Simon Wilson. On a site dotted with wild thyme and rosehip, and located within historic mining tailings in a craggy, dry and at times inhospitable landscape, this.
Mountain Scene
By GUY WILLIAMS
A Queenstown architect has won the ‘Green Home of the Year’ award at Home Magazine’s Home of the Year award.
Stacey Farrell, who picked up the award in person at the ceremony in Auckland a fortnight ago, says when she saw the names of the other architects short-listed, she felt like she was
‘‘in with the big guns’’.
The award’s for the ‘Coast House’ she and cinematagrapher husband, Ben Ruffell, built in Omaui, between Invercargill and Bluff.
They completed the house about a year ago, seven years after she began design work on
SIMON DEVITT
With a view that resembles a painting, the kitchen is a conversation piece. “I have always loved concrete, but it’s not a common residential material in New Zealand; we have an affinity with timber – it s firmly entrenched in our vernacular. This project called for something different, materials that were durable, had integrity and aged well. “It necessitated a substantial material, not only to create a protective solid mass, but also one that reflected the site’s materiality. The concrete precast panels are, in a way, poured stone; an updated version of the stone used for basic shelter by the miners.”