Akitu House #2

A Wanaka home balancing screened privacy with open lake views

Set on the foothills overlooking Lake Wanaka, Akitu House #2 is one of three houses developed around a shared architectural language. Its defining element is a curved charred-larch rainscreen, with geometry derived from an eel trap. The screen wraps selected parts of the upper level, while the main living spaces open directly towards the lake and mountains. Below, locally sourced schist forms a heavier base that settles the house into the hillside.

A screen where privacy matters

The curved timber screen is both an architectural feature and a working part of the house.

Its repeated vertical battens provide privacy and solar shading to the more enclosed parts of the upper level, filtering views in and out without completely closing those rooms from the landscape.

As you move around the exterior, the screen alternately conceals and reveals the glazing behind it. The curved geometry softens the upper form and gives the house a changing appearance from different angles.

Opening directly to the view

The main living spaces and primary bedroom occupy the elevated upper floor, taking advantage of the outlook across Lake Wanaka and the surrounding mountains.

Where the view is the priority, the rainscreen pulls away. Broad glazing and the deck open directly towards the landscape, creating a clear contrast between the screened and unscreened parts of the house – more protected where privacy and solar control matter, and more open where the outlook takes over.

Heavy below, lighter above

Secondary bedrooms and a rumpus room sit within the schist-clad lower level. The local stone gives this part of the house a much heavier relationship with the ground.

Above, the charred larch and larger areas of glazing make the upper floor read as a lighter element. The contrast between stone and timber gives the two levels distinct roles while keeping them part of the same composition.

Akitu House #2 shares its underlying design language with two related houses, but the eel-trap geometry, curved rainscreen and contrast between charred larch and local schist give this house its own expression.