The height of style - Remarkables

Jeff Turner was brought up near the sea. So when he moved inland, to a forty-hectare property near Queenstown, he factored in the water with a stunning pond that reflects his innovative home and the ranges behind it. “We didn’t want gardens and lawns,” says Jeff. “I have always loved the water. I have often admired properties with ponds. With plenty of space this was a chance to install our own.” Jeff’s wife Sandy loves the calming effect of the water. “The natural weir has a wonderful rushing water sound, it’s very easy to listen to.”

“I loved the whole alpine environment feel, the remote feeling, even though we are only fifteen minutes from the centre of Queenstown. There is no other site like it in the area, with its massive views over Lake Wakatipu to the mountains and down south as far as Kingston, at the end of the lake.”

Shortly after buying the land he met and later married Sandy who moved to Queenstown from Australia.

“This sort of place was certainly all new to me, being from Australia, but it is an incredible spot to live. I often take the binoculars and sit and gaze at the Remarkables and the other landmarks around the area. We have such amazing changing lights and colours on the mountains.”

Jeff was adamant about what he wanted or, more to the point, what he didn’t want in their Remarkables home, named Pokapu meaning “the essence”.

“I was completely over the Queenstown look, the miner’s cottage replicas with small windows and high pitched roofs. I wanted something quite the opposite and it had to blend perfectly into the surrounding environment.”

High-profile Queenstown architect Michael Wyatt agreed that the unique location called for a distinctive design. He had previously designed a more traditional home for Jeff and welcomed the chance to create an innovative alpine retreat.

The sensitive Remarkables region and its outstanding natural landscape created a planning minefield for the Turners. The Queenstown Lakes District Council was concerned about the visual impact of a house on such a sensitive site and there was a lot of discussion and negotiation before building could start. “Resource consent constraints certainly played their part in the design,” says Jeff.

“But we were still able to achieve the sort of look we were after to take advantage of the 360-degree views.”

The 550-square-metre house hugs the site and the flat multi-leaf style roof imitates the shape of the Remarkables.

Three walls of glass open up views from every room and a feature is the large pond that laps around the house. A centre island of native shrubs and plants, and extensive planting around the water merge the property even further into the surrounding landscape.

“The pond really looks a lot like the tarns you find around the Remarkables and nearby Wye Creek basin.”

The widespread use of concrete on walls and floors is a significant feature of the three-bedroom home. “When we told people we were going to have bare concrete walls they thought we were mad. It was the same with the floors which everyone said would be cold in the winter,” says Jeff.

But double-glazed windows, underfloor heating and a lot of attractive floor rugs dispels that theory.

The Turners love the ambience the concrete creates both in winter and in summer when it has a cooling effect. “We have used a lot of timber as well which softens things and the concrete on the floor has been tinted which almost makes it look like granite.”

The concrete walls in the large flowing hallway are the ideal backdrop for the Turners’ extensive art collection.

“At first we weren’t sure where we would be able to hang all our paintings,” says Jeff.” We have three walls basically of glass and the feature wall in the main room is stone so we were running out of options. The hallway was the natural gallery.”

Jeff and Sandy are also avid collectors of New Zealand wine. They have made one room into a small and intimate bar with a novel glass floor looking into the wine cellar below.

The Turners like to entertain and the kitchen and living area is designed with this in mind. The kitchen juts out over the pond and is a natural gathering place for dinner guests. A large central island bar is a feature and basalt benches and surfaces fit in well with the Kwila wood joinery.

A dining area and a more formal lounge take in the sweeping views while a small den with an open fireplace is the Turners’ private domain. The master bedroom opens on to its own private deck beside the pond. But it is the master bathroom which Jeff and Sandy are most proud of. “It is so cleverly designed the way it overlooks the bedroom through a glass wall,” says Sandy. “It is quite different and because it is raised up it gets the same stunning views as the rest of the house.”

The two guest bedrooms also open on to their own decks and the guest space has been designed to be quite separate from Jeff and Sandy’s living area. Their three children – Rachel, seventeen, Tori, twenty, and Katie, twenty-two ¬ don’t live at home full-time but when they are there they enjoy their own space. “It’s also nice for guests staying to feel they have their own private area,” says Sandy.

“It’s a really nice space to be in and we sometimes have wine tastings in the cellar.” Although the Turners enjoy everything about their alpine lifestyle it is probably the spectacular sunsets that really set the place apart. “While so many places in the Wakatipu look back towards the Remarkables we can watch the sun setting which is just incredible from this angle,” says Jeff. “It’s really as good as it gets.”

Story: Jenny McLeod Issue: August 2006 Photographs: Paul McCredie