Wiroa Station Wine Cellar / MAP Architects

Architects: MAP Architects – Simon Elvidge
Location: Bay of Islands, New Zealand
Project team: Simon Elvidge, Knut Menden
Structural engineer: Powell Fenwick Consultants Ltd
Main contractor: Dave Crabb, Circle D Construction
Project area: 25 sqm
Photographs: Brian Cully

The building is a simple viewing platform, and wine tasting room for the use of residents of a small beach side development in the far north of New Zealand.

Restricted to 25m2 due to local planning regulations, and set in to the hill side to reduce the presence on the skyline, this simple building forms a calm backdrop to the scenery, intended to enhance the enjoyment of the environment, and wine tasting.

Utilising the local vernacular of wartime coastal bunkers, the concrete wine cellar opens into a broad wedge to allow a stunning elevated vista of the Bay of Islands.