Fred van Brandenburg has turned the living room of his Lake Hayes home into an exhibition of his work from the past decade.
Consisting of 3-D-printed models of his designs, as well as drawings and photographs, the display’s centrepiece is Crest, a hotel he plans to develop on a lakefront site below Queenstown’s Frankton Rd.
Mr van Brandenburg said he set up the exhibition for a group of potential Crest investors from Japan and Korea. Arranged by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, their visit was timed to coincide with last weekend’s New Zealand Open golf tournament in Arrowtown. After thinking about the feedback he received from a similar exhibition of his work at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2014, he decided to open up his living room to the public.
Besides the Crest project, the display showcases half a dozen other projects and design competition entries.
It includes his models of a 120,000sq m building now under construction in Shenzhen, southern China, which will be fashion label Marisfrolg’s headquarters, and has designs from the "Olive Leaf" building he has proposed to sit next to Arrowtown’s St Patrick’s Church.
Mr van Brandenburg said his working method was the reverse of that normally used by architects. He made a series of 3-D models that he honed and refined to his satisfaction before proceeding to the drawing stage.
His architecture drew on forms commonplace in nature, and was inspired by the engineering principles underlying the work of Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi, he said.
He was confident he would find investors to make Crest a reality, and had bought out his two original co-investors to ensure it was built according to his vision. Its design — marked by cascading balconies emulating the wave action on Lake Wakatipu and waka prows reflecting the area’s pre-European heritage — was complete, but he continued to work on the building’s "embellishments".
He received consent for the 11-level, 100-unit hotel or managed apartment complex from the Queenstown Lakes District Council 12 months ago.
● The Crest exhibition, which continues until March 24, is open daily from 2pm to 5pm at 5 Arrowtown-Lake Hayes Rd (opposite Amisfield).
