New Zealand guest house fits luxurious living in a tiny space

Team Green Architects created a sustainable, simple retreat on a rural property in Dalefield, New Zealand.

The 106 square-meter guest house is a modern villa that can sleep eight people in two cleverly designed rooms. The space blends in with the surrounding landscape and movable sunscreens allow inhabitants to carefully adjust the amount of light that enters the space.

The owners required a space that could act as an escape for visitors, both hidden from the main house and unobtrusive on the landscape. The result is the Wakatipu guest house. The home has two rooms: one is a master bedroom that sleeps two and the other is a bunk room that sleeps six, along with a bathroom and shared great room.

The simple bathroom has a glazed roof opening, allowing guests to bathe under the New Zealand stars and providing views of the nearby mountain peaks. The architects designed the home to fit in among an existing grove of silver birch trees to provide privacy and to maintain a sense of respite and solitude for the inhabitants.

Natural sunscreens made out of cedar allow the guests to adjust the amount of air and light that enters into the space, making it easier to control heating and cooling. A grey corrugated steel roof allows the building to blend in with local farm sheds that exist throughout the area.