WellSmart has filed plans for a 10-level modular hotel in the heart of New Zealand’s Queenstown, marking the firm’s first fully volumetric modular project and one of the most technically complex new builds in the alpine tourist hub.

The Wardle Architects-designed hotel, slated for a site at 67 Shotover Street, is planned for one of Queenstown’s steepest parcels of land—with a 20m fall across the site—and within the town’s highest seismic risk zone. 

The shifting ground conditions required a dramatic structural rethink, according to Wardle principal Mathew van Kooy, who says the project is effectively two distinct buildings sitting on seismic isolation plates and connected via a lightweight bridge.

▲ The hotel steps up the 20m fall across the site at Shotover Street.