HEAD FOR THE HILLS

A breathtaking new home just out of Queenstown is a comfortable backdrop for a family to play out their life

For Laura Shallcrass, having a house in the hills with space for horses was always a dream. Settled in Queenstown for the past 12 years with her husband, architectural designer Robbie Dick, Laura, who works as an illustrator and graphic designer, had been slowly moving towards realising this vision. She and Robbie built their first home – a compact, two-bedroom, highly energy-efficient house – in the Lake Hayes Estate subdivision. It had room for chickens and a dog, and space for the couple’s two children,

Boston and Monty to run around, but the horses had to graze elsewhere and, as the children grew, the house started to feel a bit tight.

While considering options for their next move, Laura and Robbie came across this piece of land in Gibbston. It was perfect. “We took one look around the site, and I was like, can we have it?” Laura laughs. “We thought it was our last chance to be able to afford land in this area.”

The couple moved quickly, securing an offer and beginning the design process in the following weeks – and their dream house began to take shape.

Robbie, an architectural designer with his own business, The Habitat Design Co., created the plan based around the northern aspect of the site. With a good-sized building platform to work with, he was able to orientate all the rooms towards the incredible mountain views available to the north. In a climate like Gibbston, this was also important for solar gain.

“There are so many sites around Queenstown with south-facing views and they’re amazing, but to be able to do a site with north-facing views and all-day sun was really exciting. That led to the long, skinny design to allow for sun in every room in the house,” says Robbie. “And to have that view through to Coronet Peak is incredible.”

The couple negotiated to move the building platform to its current spot to allow for more sunshine hours, and because they already had plans in mind, they were able to request a new structure that suited their project.

The house is clad in larch, which will eventually silver off to merge with the schist in the surrounding hills. Rock walls around the site were crafted from schist taken from the site itself.

GREAT OUTDOORS Laura and Robbie purchased the land with its views to Coronet Peak and Gibbston Valley in 2018. It has paddocks for the horses and pony, room for their two sons and pet dogs to run around, and for a brood of hens.

Meet & greet Laura Shallcrass (illustrator and graphic designer), Robbie Dick (architectural designer), Boston, nine, and Monty, six, Labrador Kota and puppy Frida.

KITCHEN The cove truss ceiling gives the kitchen, living and dining area the feeling of space. The square kitchen island is used for informal dinner parties. ENTRANCE WAY Laura relaxes with puppy Frida on the built-in bench with storage for shoes hidden below the seat. The vibrant wallpaper surrounding the bench is William Morris ‘Seaweed’.