Alpine Cafe

Completed 2006

This was an extensive renovation and extension of an existing building located on the southern face of Mt Ruapehu, at the base of the Turoa Ski Fields. The existing “snowflake” building section was removed to make way for the new kitchens, services and storage, retail outlet, and cafe seating area.

This was a challenging project, as there was a real desire to reuse as much of the existing building as possible, channelled through the notion of adaptive reuse (an important philosophy in sustainable design). This new part of the building is a full, two-storey extension. The existing building roof was lifted to tie seamlessly with the new work. Completed by Grant Harris whilst at Ignite Architects.