Tech entrepreneur and co-founder of PayPal and Palantir – Peter Thiel has recently unveiled plans to build a mega luxe lodge on a 193-hectare (477-acre) estate that he owns on the South Island of New Zealand. Yes, that’s right!
Thiel apparently bought the estate in 2015 for a whopping $13.5 million through an Auckland-headquartered company he owns called Second Star Limited. He has now filed development plans with the Queenstown Lakes District Council, which reveals several inconspicuous buildings that merge with the landscape on the shores of the picturesque Lake Wanaka.
Designed by Tokyo Olympic Stadium architect Kengo Kuma and Associate, the complex will feature a private residential building built into a hillock and a larger luxury lodge with accommodation for 24 people. It will also boast a separate meditation pod, water features, and a yet-to-be-designed back-of-house building.
The main cabin or the owner’s cabin will house a spa, a pool, theater lounge, office, and three bedrooms, while the guest cabin has its own spa and pool, as well as a library and ten guest bedrooms. With an intent to “design an organic architecture that fuses into the landscape,” Kengo Kuma and Associates have created nothing short of a masterpiece.
Commenting on it, Jo Fyfe, senior planner at John Edmonds and Associates (who was responsible for assessing the environmental effects of the complex), said, “The architecture of the proposed lodge is unique.”
He further added, “The careful design and placement of buildings into the landscape is thoughtful and recognizes the landscape setting. The sympathetic design will use a green roof that will employ the same naturally rustic planting palette of the hillocks that they will be located within.”
As of now, it is unclear when the lodge would be operational and how much it would cost guests to live there. Until then, we wait for the grand reveal!
[Via: Stuff.co.nz]
