Queenstown Country Club - Clubhouse
Our client Arvida Group wanted to provide a new social hub for the fast-growing retirement community of Queenstown Country Club. The Country Club, masterplanned and designed by Warren and Mahoney, features 140 newly designed homes for residents. The brief was to provide community hospitality and wellbeing spaces including a café / bar, dining room and multipurpose space, communal kitchen, library, games room, gym, pool and theatre as well as external gardens and bowling greens. The facility also provides the main reception and offices of the village manager and their associated staff.
The inspiration for the interior palette draws from the surrounding alpine environment and the local Otago architectural vernacular. The plan is arranged around a central main entry and reception hall with social, wellness, dining and admin facilities arranged in quadrants and mirrored about the central axis. The design team looked to curate a ‘Refined Alpine’ experience of understated quality, designing the spaces to feel as if they were an extension of the residents own home, where they can feel comfortable to visit at any time. Inspiration for the material and colour palette was drawn from the flora and fauna of the region including the iconic mountain Kea.
The interior features a distinctive slatted timber ceiling and exposed timber truss work – roughhewn to allude to the barn-like nature of the local vernacular, paired with refined rich timber wall panelling used to define individual ‘rooms’ within the larger interior space. Texture is brought to the spaces with heavy set schist fireplaces which anchor and define the three main interior spaces – reception/entry, café/bar, and dining room. The colour palette is inspired by the olive-green Kea with scarlet underwings and a slender grey-black beak. Oak Herringbone parquet flooring and a custom-designed broadloom carpet bring further refinement and a heritage nod to the materials palette.
The use of glulam timber structure throughout in building in place of steel was a key sustainability move. Multifunction spaces have been designed for a range of activities - from AGM’s to gala dinners to indoor bowls where required. As such, the scale and flexibility of the spaces is carefully considered. The kitchen, café and bar areas are designed to feel homely and accessible to the use of residents on one hand; while also serving as a commercial staging kitchen for larger functions when required.
