There is a phrase that guided every decision in the design of The Dacha. The client repeated it so often it became less a brief and more a kind of mantra: Don’t let the house get in the way of the view. It’s all about the view.
It sounds simple. It is, in fact, one of the hardest things to achieve in architecture. Stand at the terrace edge and you understand immediately what they were after. Lake Wānaka stretches below, for as far as the eye can see. The Southern Alps shift colour through the hours – dusky pinks and pale gold at first light, slate-blue by afternoon, fired copper before dark. On certain mornings, when a blanket of mist sits low on the water and the mountains emerge slowly through cloud, the landscape holds you so completely that everything else falls quietly away.
There is a phrase that guided every decision in the design of The Dacha. The client repeated it so often it became less a brief and more a mantra: Don’t let the house get in the way of the view.
It sounds simple. It is, in fact, one of the hardest things to achieve in architecture.
Stand at the terrace edge and you understand immediately what they were after. Lake Wānaka stretches below as far as the eye can see. The Southern Alps shift colour through the hours — dusky pinks and pale gold at first light, slate-blue by afternoon, fired copper before dark. On certain mornings, when mist sits low on the water and the mountains emerge slowly through cloud, the landscape holds you so completely that everything else falls quietly away.
New Zealand Institute of Architects Southern Architecture Award, The Dacha is the work of Wānaka-based Eliška Lewis Architects. Perched on a steep hillside above the lake, it is anchored by a long spine of stacked stone, running unbroken inside and out — that divides arrival and service from the glassy, view-facing side of the house. Raw and considered at once. The stone connects the building to the earth. The glass dissolves the boundary between interior and everything beyond.
The layout was conceived around an obsession with view — not just the obvious panorama, but the incidental ones. Views through corners. Rooms that look through other rooms. The landscape woven into every space.
The Dacha comprises five guest rooms in the main residence. The Master Suite occupies the east wing, where morning light arrives first. At the western end, The Georgia, The Charlotte, and two bunk rooms gather around a snug built for easy, unhurried company. Perched separately on the hillside, The Banya is a private studio retreat with its own verandah and unimpeded views — suspended in landscape. Together, the property holds up to sixteen guests. It holds two equally as well.
Outside, the pool appears to hover at the edge of the world, its surface aligned with the lake below. Four hundred and twenty square metres of terraces offer themselves up according to the light.
For couples seeking something more personal than a traditional venue, the landscape becomes ceremony.
A DIFFERENT KIND OF CELEBRATION
The word dacha is Russian for ‘a home away from home’ — and something in that translation feels true to what this place asks of you. Not expectation. Not schedule. Simply presence.
For couples seeking something more personal than a traditional venue, the landscape becomes ceremony. Vows exchanged with the Southern Alps as witness. A table laid for the people who matter most. Champagne as the mountains lose their colour. A morning-after breakfast with the lake still, its turquoise waters mirroring the mountains below. Milestone gatherings, private retreats, and winter escapes all share the same intimacy: one property, one party, one landscape that changes with every glance. An atmosphere that becomes an integral part of the story.
BEYOND THE PROPERTY
Five minutes from the centre of Wānaka and within easy reach of Queenstown and Arrowtown, The Dacha sits at the heart of the South Island’s most celebrated region — world-renowned walking trails, Central Otago vineyards, legendary ski fields. A dedicated concierge team shapes bespoke itineraries tailored to individual tastes. Experiences can be elevated with enhancements including services of a personal chef, massage treatments, private yoga sessions, in-house wine tastings, and curated regional golf tours.
Whether you’re after adventure, restoration, family connection, or an intimate celebration steeped in meaning, The Dacha prioritises luxury through space, stillness, and emotional warmth.
Some places you visit. Others quietly etch meaningful moments that create memories for life — much like this landscape, it’s impressions are timeless, grounding and impossible to forget.
