On the shores of Lake Rotoiti, this holiday home draws on the region’s rich geological history — from the magma deep beneath the earth’s surface to the mossy greens and pristine blues of the forest and lake.

On a rugged stretch of State Highway 1, part-way between Kaikōura and Blenheim, where steep hills fall towards the Pacific and weather shapes the land with force, Three Sixty Architecture has devised something entirely fitting — and particularly appealing.

Emerging from the Te Ārai dunes as two rammed earth pavilions offset to reconcile sun path and sea view, the Double Courtyard House responds to its landscape by, literally, being made from it.