This award-winning, 800m² house on the shores of Lake Wakatipu stands as the largest single-family home in the Southern Hemisphere built with ICF. It represents the culmination of an American client’s dream to create a residence in this magical location, paired with his extensive knowledge of ICF construction. This vision opened the door for PhD Building to supply and install the ICF for the project.

Collaborating closely with DCD Construction, Architect Rafe Mclean, and engineers BMC, we achieved an almost perfect result. Engaging PhD early in the process allowed the design to incorporate Nudura ICF’s modular structure, significantly reducing waste from the outset.

The structure’s immense openings, including one spanning 10 meters, were seamlessly integrated into the Nudura ICF blocks, utilizing only rebar and concrete, without requiring any structural steel beams. This led to a deceptively simple yet robust design, showcasing the strength and flexibility of the Nudura ICF system.

This home achieves passive house-level thermal performance in an exposed yet stunningly scenic location. Following its completion, it garnered several prestigious awards, including the NZ Southern Region House of the Year and the International Open Category ICF House of the Year in the USA. Rumoured to be on the market for in excess of $30,000,000 NZD, one of NZ ‘s most valuable homes without a doubt!!

See below how our building partner, DCD Construction, describes their experience working with PhD Building’s Nudura ICF:

“DCD has trialed every ICF product available in NZ and found Nudura to be the best suited to our clients’ needs. It offers perfect wall alignment, resilient construction, and a quiet internal environment. Only Nudura allows us the flexibility to meet high thermal performance standards through its unique billet inserts while still enabling customization of the concrete core size without compromising structural or thermal integrity. For a 800m² home, we were able to erect both internal and external walls in under three weeks with just three men, a feat unmatched by any other system.”