Billionaire’s planned lodge ‘exceptional’ and ‘hidden’
“Exceptional” architecture will ensure United States billionaire Peter Thiel’s proposed Wānaka lodge will barely be visible, the Environment Court has been told.
Thiel’s company, Second Star Ltd, is appealing a Queenstown Lakes District Council independent panel’s decision to decline consent for the visitor accommodation at Damper Bay, near Wānaka.
The council no longer opposes the application but the Upper Clutha Environmental Society and the Longview Environmental Trust are, largely based on the visibility of the lodge from the nearby trail and Lake Wānaka.
Second Star lawyer Mike Holm said the luxury lodge would support 15 to 30 staff. Native planting would cover more than half of the 193ha site, with the remainder including restored wetland areas.
“It is unchallenged that, if granted, this application will provide significant tourism, economic and ecological benefits for the local Wānaka area and broader Queenstown district,” he said.
The lodge was designed by architect Kengo Kuma and Associates, a company known for designing the Tokyo Olympic Stadium.
Architect Richard Harris said that included “tricks” the architects used to camouflage the building, such as making use of the way shadows fell over the glazing and tapered eaves.
The result was that passers-by would only see “slivers” of non-continuous buildings despite the building being 190 metres long and up to 9.6m high, he said.
Opposition is focused on the visibility of the lodge from the Wānaka-Glendhu Bay walking and cycle track, which is part of Te Araroa Trail. Holm said there were only four viewpoints, totalling about 200m of the track, from which the lodge would be visible.
Several improvements had been made to the track including an optional diversion, which would allow users to avoid any view of the lodge for one section.
Holm said the lodge, through design, would be “cloaked in natural vegetation with the built form embedded in the landscape”.
Hearing commissioner Mark Mabin said the original commissioners were shocked at the frequency of views of the lodge from the track, and he asked if that had changed. Landscape architect Tony Milne said changes had been made to the plan to reduce visibility of the lodge. These included two new mounds, one 2.5m high, and additional planting.
Planner John Edmonds was asked whether it was appropriate a lodge to be built in an outstanding natural landscape when it had to be hidden by changes to the land form and vegetation. Edmonds said the mitigation was carefully constructed so the changes to landscape would not be inappropriate. .
Tourism consultant Stephen Hamilton was questioned about the types of people who might stay at the lodge, where they would pay thousands of dollars a night.
Longview lawyer Phil Page asked whether those staying would want to walk to Damper Bay to look at the “magnificent views”.
Hamilton did not think they would as they were more likely to be interested in food, wine, arts and culture than active adventure.
Thiel did not appear at the hearing and would only be at the lodge for short periods, Holm said.
The Environment Court hearing before Judge Prudence Stevens and commissioner Mark Mabin continues today.
Thiel made his fortune as a co-founder of PayPal and an early investor in Facebook.
In 2017, it was revealed he held NZ citizenship as he did not need to follow rules for the sale of sensitive land to foreigners when he bought the property for $13.5 million in 2015.
His citizenship was controversial because it required a special grant by the minister of internal affairs at the time, Nathan Guy. This was because Thiel did not meet two statutory requirements to become a citizen: a history of residing in New Zealand, and an intent to reside there in future.