Description:

TGGABC (The Great Glenorchy Alpine Base Camp) is an adventure tourism base camp that provides an authentic Aotearoa NZ end-to-end hospitality offering for guided package alpine tours into the UNESCO World Heritage Area on the doorstep of Glenorchy, Southland, Te Waipounamu.

The client couple are Glenorchy locals, they are parents, hunters, trampers, adventurers, cooks, good company and great hosts who recognised that Glenorchy natural landscape offering is very different from that of Queenstown. They had a vision to share this absolutely unique offering with an authentic local narrative that shows guests manaakitanga.

The challenge is that Glenorgy offers mountaineering, remote jet boating, heliskiing, fly fishing, tramping, even surfing at Big Bay, but has no local accommodation and hospitality offering, rather, tourists are flown or driven in and out of Queenstown. Not only this, but tourist bypass all that is authentically local and unique about this special remote and very beautiful part of Te Waipounamu.

This project brings together all the elements of overnight hospitality with an authentic Aotearoa narrative: modern vernacular architecture, luxury hut glamping, woodfired home cooking, communal dining, sustainable footprint, respect for the environment, respect for mana whenua hosted by real locals.

Guests are welcomed, accommodated, cooked for, and guided by local alpine guides that teach the history of the region while being escorting guests through the wilderness and back to base camp.

The architecture and urban design are a response to the vernacular context of this unique alpine village and aspire to fit sympathetically into the townscape. The encampment of 14 small footprint luxury sleeping huts is inspired by the backcountry tradition of mustering, hunting, tramping and early mining of the area. They are clustered along laneways and campfires in a village arrangement served by a lodge building that provides food, beverage and ablutions.

The big picture here is a low embodied and operational carbon footprint. This is achieved by sustainably grown timber construction and interior linings. All heating and cooking is by woodburning fire boxes in all the huts and lodge building including a wood fired oven for all food cooking.

The dinning room doubles as an adventure briefing space and chill out zone. All guests dine in communal family style served by the hosts and from the wood burning kitchen all within the one space. Guest rinse their own plates and serve their own drinks so operational staff are kept to a minimum. It feels more like eating in a wharekai in a Marae or in someone’s house than a hotel.