The Den

HM of New Zealand Nature Retreat: Antipodes Island

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New Zealand Nature Retreat: Antipodes Island

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The Den

Team

Name: Toh Wei Hang

Instagram 1: weihang_toh9831 

Instagram 2: _unfinished_arch

Nationality: Malaysia 

Institution / Company: UPM (University Putra Malaysia)

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“The Den” is inspired by the native ground-nesting birds that built their nest beneath the tussock and burrow. 

The structure rises slowly from the landscape, settling into the slope as if grown over time. Shaped in a gentle C-curve, the structure bends like an ear laid against the earth, a form tuned to listen and to monitor the “heartbeat” of Antipodes Island. Only the observatory emerges with intention: a precise aperture toward the elements. Here, glass is not a boundary but a lens; the building withdraws so that the sublime turbulence of the wide-winged albatross and the raw cry of the Southern Ocean wind can be witnessed, recorded, and honored. 

It is a quiet sanctuary carved by volcanic rock—an architecture that draws strength from the earth itself. Within, mass timber brings warmth and calm to counter the relentless climate. Above, a sod roof—reconstructed from the soil excavated during the construction and replanted with peat and native species—restores what was disturbed, forming a quiet pact of care with the land.

“The Den” holds a powerful duality: a core of light, study, and order sheltered within an environment of elemental wildness. Here, isolation becomes clarity, and the landscape itself becomes the teacher.

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Jury Comments

– Maria Vittoria Delli Carri

Interesting inclusion of the topic of time (seasonality and phasing). The shape is at the same time protective and embracing the context, quite effective.

– Olivia Bina

good arch gesture but lack of details on how