Antipodal

HM of New Zealand Nature Retreat: Antipodes Island

+ HONOURABLE MENTION

New Zealand Nature Retreat: Antipodes Island

[19820]

Antipodal

Team

Name: Howard Lee

Instagram: _h_l_archi_

Nationality: Australian & Taiwanese

Name: Eric Oh

Instagram: eric___oh

Nationality: Australian & Korean

Name: Clarasya Goh

Instagram: clarasyagoh

Nationality: Indonesian

Name: Joey Jiang

Instagram: jlsj.joey

Nationality: Chinese

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The Antipodes Island is raw and alive. Wind, salt, and deep time shape its cliffs and grasslands. The Southern Ocean stretches beyond, not as a territory to be conquered, but as a quiet, wise presence offering refuge. Standing here, one feels small yet held within a world far larger than oneself.

This retreat moves beyond human-centred architecture. Rather than fixing or romanticising the island, it lives with its conditions. Inspired by Donna Haraway’s idea of staying with the trouble, the architecture embraces the complexity of shared life, responding with care, restraint, and coexistence. It asks how humans might live and die alongside other species, without taking the centre.

Arrival begins at Anchorage Bay. Wind, grass, and cliff edge guide the body toward a retreat embedded between land and sea. Volcanic basalt and breccia are bound with pink guano mortar from abandoned penguin territories, carrying ecological memory. Tussock grass forms subfloor insulation.

Inside, communal living and research spaces support nourishment and observation. The sequence ends in a contemplative space facing the Pacific and Achway Island, where a semi-outdoor bath invites rest and renewal.

This is not an escape. It’s a home that belongs to the island, in care, attention, and presence.

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Jury Comments

– Olivia Bina

This is not an escape. It’s a home that belongs to the island, in care, attention, and presence.’… not much detail?