Regional

A compact yet stylish coastal “bach” on NZ’s Coromandel Peninsula was the ultimate practical assignment for a group of architecture students from Auckland’s Unitec.

In a forest outside Bendigo in central Victoria, where temperatures swing from freezing winters to scorching summers, a local architect has used lessons learned during a stint in Brisbane to conceive and build a compact, affordable “camp” for his young family.

When architect Shawn Godwin visited his client’s block of land on the Sunshine Coast, he was struck by its natural beauty. He wanted to preserve it and design a house minimising any impact.

For a climber and an artist, this remote harsh area of New Zealand’s South Island offered a rare opportunity. Martin Hill had been based for many years in Auckland but the attraction of the mountains and lakes of the Wanaka region in the Southern Alps provided an environment for him to delve more deeply into his art and photography.