Te Toka

Solid as its schist foundations, Te Toka (The Rock) is both a lakeside sanctuary and an inspirational reminder that a home should be a long-lasting legacy. Clad in stone excavated directly from the building site, this majestic 820sqm property exudes masculine solidity, enhanced by fortress-thick insulated concrete form walls and 3.2m ceilings. Visitors are greeted in the ‘Great Room with a sublime view through an uninterrupted almost 10m expanse of European spruce triple-glazed windows. The nearly 2m-deep skylights indicate the astonishing roof thickness, which required an award-winning engineering feat to crane the innovative timber modules into place. Not only is this home breathtakingly beautiful, it is also an exemplar of innovative solutions in sustainability and craftsmanship, with its sheer size demanding uncommon expertise. Every feature is at scale, perfectly proportioned despite the large footprint. The final touches of a newly planted apple orchard and a small flock of sheep paint the ideal pastoral picture, belying the technological savvy involved in this build.