2012 New Zealand Architecture Awards Winner
Knoll Ridge Café
On Mt Ruapheu, at least one cloud has proved to have a silver lining: a café on Knoll Ridge destroyed by fire has been replaced with a dramatically sited building that rewards, with interest, a two chair-lift ascent. This is audacious architecture, realised in collaboration with an ingenious engineer, intrepid builders, and a client determined to make the most of a breathtaking setting. The exterior is strong and formally poetic; the 400-seat interior, with its large, laminated pine structural members, is just as impressive. All of the building’s elements, from decks to kitchen to handrail details, have received careful treatment. The building is a fine example of architectural grace achieved under logistical pressure, in an extreme alpine environment.
- Practice
- Harris Butt Architecture Ltd T/A HB Architecture
- Category
- Commercial Architecture
- Location
- Western
