ARCHITECTURE ON HOLIDAY

With overseas travel not being an option for the Christmas holidays this year, New Zealanders are seeing more of our beautiful country than ever before.

When you’re on the road experiencing new regional destinations over summer, here are a few architectural gems you may want to include in your itinerary. 

 OLD 

As you enter Arthur’s Pass village from Christchurch, on your left you will find the lovely Chapel of the Snows, designed by the late Paul Pascoe. With a stone exterior and timber interior, its form evokes both a mountain tent and a Māori meeting house. It is simple yet beautiful, and the view out to the bush above the altar is very peaceful and spiritual. 

UNUSUAL 

The Hundertwasser Toilets – this bizarre building is located on the main street in Kawakawa, Northland, and was completed in 1999 by the late Austrian artist and architect, Friedensreich Hundertwasser. With the help of locals, he transformed the former toilet block into a highly decorative work of art. 

NEW 

With its towering curvaceous façade of polished stainless steel designed by Andrew Patterson, the Len Lye Centre in New Plymouth houses the sculptural works of the world-renowned New Zealand artist Len Lye. Opened in 2015, it has a cavernous interior which features a number of large gallery spaces each displaying Lye’s kinetic artworks. 

RELAXING 

The Glacier Hot Pools complex in Franz Josef is set within a rainforest and designed by Dalman Architects. Each tree on the site was plotted by GPS, and the pool shapes and positions were crafted around them. This creates a very organic and natural experience in the rainforest to ‘chill out’ in the heated pools.