The Waimarino Lodge will feature 24 luxury villas, a restaurant, owners’ residence, guest lounge, yoga studio, and sauna.

Visitors enter through a dense wall of kanuka and manuka, where dark, interwoven branches give way to the vibrant green canopy above. This transition inspired our design approach: dark, low-slung buildings nestle within the shadows of the existing and newly established tree canopy.

Each building is deliberately small in scale and articulated to avoid large, continuous forms. Combined with green roofs, this approach ensures the architecture blends seamlessly with the existing and proposed landscaping, creating a sense of harmony between nature and structure.