My favourite building:
Architect Blair Johnston of Warren & Mahoney has a soft spot for an alpine lodge in the deep south, set between Lakes Wanaka and Hawea

“SILVERPINE LODGE SITS high up on a dramatic, narrow neck of land in Central Otago between Lakes Hawea and Wanaka. It s a powerful, isolated, and distinctly New Zealand landscape, and designing within it requires a sensitive and steady hand, provided in this instance by the inimitable Peter Beaven. On approach, the lodge sits comfortably below the ridgeline, its simple form pyiing homage to the New Zealand rural vernacular of the functional and the utilitarian – the wool store, th shearing shed, the farm house.

But this unassuming exterior gives little indication of the richness of the soaring interior spaces: Matai, totara, kauri, silverpine, Canadian Oregon and Baltic pine are combined with schist stone floors and rammed earth walls in a surprisingly cohesive and tactile experience. It stimulates a very real desire to run your hand over the surfaces.

The living area and bedrooms are aligned to provide outlook over the lake, while the high volumes of the entry and dining hall frame unexpected but no less spectacular views of the surrounding hillside. The lightness of these double-height spaces is anchored by the massive rammed-earth walls, the raw material taken from the site itself. This is a building which is literally of its place, a fine example of how to build within such an iconic landscape.”

- architectural magazine, HOME New Zealand Aug/Sep 2008