BY DESIGN
Bush architecture
I Richard Dalman Managing Director, Dalman Architects dalman.co.nz
n my last article, I wrote about coastal As with coastal design, for the bush, the architecture and outlined some of the selection of materials is also critical. We opportunities and design and construction used natural products such as timber where considerations relevant to building on the possible. We also specified concrete and left coast. In New Zealand, we are fortunate to the surfaces rough and textured so they would also have vast areas of native bush. So how patina over time, and allow the bush to grow might we design in this particular landscape? over and around them to further blend the Reflecting on that, a number of years ago we building into the environment. had the privilege of designing two developments Designing respectfully in response to the in the West Coast’s most pristine native bush: environment was our priority; for example, the 5-star Te Waonui Forest Retreat Hotel and we created large overhangs around the the adjacent Glacier Hot Pools, in Franz Josef. hotel so guests could sit on their balconies For the Te Waonui Forest Retreat, our focus sheltered from the intense rain but be was to retain the native flora and make the immersed in nature, and we celebrated the building disappear into it, so we positioned rain in the Hot Pools with a large sculptural the four guest room wings in a square layout ‘rain collector’. around a large courtyard with the forest At ground level, the forest floor can be featuring as the centrepiece. All hotel rooms damp and mossy, whilst higher up, the light open out onto this space, so guests can filters through the trees, creating dappled engage all their senses with the forest. patterns. In the hotel, we accentuated these Prior to starting the design of the Hot Pools, different characteristics with the ground-floor we used GPS to locate all existing significant bar being dark and atmospheric, and the firsttrees and even fallen logs. That enabled us to floor restaurant being light and airy with a position the pools and supporting buildings balcony that extends out into the tree canopy. between them, fully integrated into the forest. I believe the best architecture respects and Franz Josef is a remote area, so we needed responds to its local environment, and in the to consider how construction would be case of the West Coast bush, protects from the undertaken. It was decided to prefabricate rain, shelters from the wind, maximises the many of the building and pool elements offfiltered sunlight, and blends into the various site and transport them to their end location. shades of green.
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