Wānaka S.K.I House
Wānaka, New Zealand
A new house in Wānaka, a few blocks back from the Roys Bay foreshore and facing north to the lake and the Buchanan Peaks, designed by Jimmy Gray for his own parents as the first project of Roberts Gray Architects. The name is his joke about the commission: S.K.I stands for spending the kids' inheritance. It is built of concrete block in 390 millimetre insulated walls, with charred Japanese cedar, oak, galvanised and blackened steel and Lindis schist paving; the deep covered corner is the lanai, and the steel framing that edges the courtyards is rounded at its corners like an architrave.
Jared Lockhart's planting is deliberately wild against the crazy paved schist terraces, a loose counter to the house's exact geometry. The house won a New Zealand Institute of Architects National Architecture Award in 2024, along with its regional award the same year, and Level Construction of Wānaka built it.
Roberts Gray Architects
Roberts Gray Architects works from Auckland and Wānaka under its directors Nick Roberts, Elspeth Gray and Jimmy Gray; this house was its first project.
Architecture and interior design @robertsgrayarchitects. Photography @samuel_hartnett. Build @levelconstructionnz. Landscape design @jared.lockhart. Engineering @constructureauckland. Joinery @cabinetreewanaka. Seen via @thelocalproject.
The picture comes from this post on Instagram.
Researched August 2026. I credit each piece as carefully as I can; if you know more about this one, message me on Instagram.