Prairie House banner

Client Brief

We were engaged to design a single storey, three-bedroom contemporary family holiday home with a long and low form that blended into the surrounding rural countryside in Central Otago.

The client admired the prairie architecture style of Frank Lloyd Wright and interior design of Tom Kundig and this could be referenced to influence the design approach and creative solution, although they were also open to a collection of linked pavilions with gabled forms that we had designed for another project.

The house was to be sited to allow an access road and an expansive lawn to the North for outdoor living activities. The client desired a functional and flexible holiday home to enjoy indoor and outdoor living entertaining with family and friends. Extensive use of glazing, extending roof overhangs and varied wall heights were sought to provide indoor and outdoor living that maximized views, daylight, plus controlled sunlight, privacy and wind.

The main bedroom suite was to be separated away from other bedrooms with a utility space as a games room, bedroom or garage that could be closed off when only the client was at the holiday home. A double garage, laundry, bathroom, snug, service court and hot tub were desired to not affect the main views North and South.

The design was to create a relaxed holiday home with architecture that would be enduring using durable low maintenance materials, quality finishes, colours and textures to blend with respect for the rural landscape of Central Otago. 

Creative Solution & Design Features

This design is long linear forms that appear as horizontal bands in the landscape. The construction has a robust seamless materiality and balanced geometry as a bespoke contemporary holiday home. The open plan layout has an emphasis on indoor and outdoor flow with high level glazing providing additional daylight to penetrate interiors.

This creates light, airy, spacious volumes with an increased awareness of mountain range skylines. Northern and Southern courtyards are formed between bedroom pavilions to capture wider views of the surrounding landscape and provide a strong axial view shaft through the central living core.

The South courtyard is designed for casual main entry and exit, plus an alternative outdoor living area sheltered from the wind. Earthy colours, textures and materials are used to foster a strong bond between the built and natural environment. Cedar, shuttered concrete, polished concrete and corten steel are woven together within the design integrating extensive double glazing.

Inspiration from Tom Kundig provides a rustic country rawness to the architecture and interiors that reflects the rugged Central Otago mountains with a durability to be resilient to harsh seasonal weather. The cedar cladding and floating linear forms created by horizontal lines of extending roofs, open plan living, and horizontal bands of windows reference the prairie architecture style to blend with the flat open countryside.

Large roof overhangs, passive solar design, thermal mass, high thermal envelope insulation, double glazing, LED lighting and low maintenance enduring materials offer a life cycle approach to sustainability design, construction, and environmental performance.

Photo Credit - Gareth Harvey

Gary Todd Architecture
View locations (3)
Tour of The Prairie House | Gary Todd Architecture
Prairie House
Prairie House
Prairie House
Prairie House
Prairie House
Prairie House
Prairie House
Prairie House
Prairie House
Prairie House

Professionals used in
Prairie House

About the
Professional

For us, architecture is about creating special places in context with their natural and built environment for the enjoyment of people who live in them, work in them, or experience them. Every project, regardless of scale, we consider is a unique opportunity to create something amazing for our client, community and society.

Our architectural practice is humble however operates with confidence because we are experienced in a variety of building types and styles with a proven track record. Our projects vary from Otago to Central Otago, Southland and Canterbury and wider afield than New Zealand to Australia, Fiji and France.

Every project is unique and emerges out of a specific client brief, budget and site that we may challenge and offer options if we consider there is a need to think deeper before proceeding further. These considerations inform the design and build process where our experience on projects to create that point of difference is more likely to be achieved with our valued professional guidance and expertise assisting you as with our many prior clients.

We have been collaborating with our clients, consultants, contractors and councils to provide excellence by offering our trusted experience, innovation and professional guidance to all aspects of a project with vision, planning, documentation, contracts, construction, interior fit out, landscaping and project management from concept to completion as a full project approach under sole leadership to get the best outcome.

We know that each project brings different client requirements and that our response can be to guide that project through a collaborative process to success, whether it is small or large, simple or complex with us as your design lead. The end result is to create inspirational spaces with architecture that could meet and exceed the client and public expectation and be fully in context with the natural and built environment.

Our practice is green minded and actively incorporates innovative sustainable design and construction with an environmental awareness that can contribute to our future. We support ethical and sustainable practices. We believe our architecture can reflect who our clients are and their aspirations.

With the experience of Gary leading the team, we specialise mainly in new or altered residential or commercial projects. We have been involved in over 1000 building projects over more than 25 years and have been acknowledged by over 90 New Zealand Architectural Design Awards in the process which is testament to the quality that you can expect given to each project.

At ArchiPro we recognise and acknowledge the existing, original and ancient connection Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have to the lands and waterways across the Australian continent. We pay our respects to the elders past and present. We commit to working together to build a prosperous and inclusive Australia.