A meditation ‘pod’, guest lodge that sleeps 24, and million dollar views from every room are all part of US billionaire Peter Thiel’s plan for his Wānaka property. 

Peter paid $13.5M for the 193ha Damper Bay lifestyle block site back in April 2015 and a resource consent application lodged with Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) has revealed his plans for a series of buildings comprising guest and private accommodation and plenty of luxuries.

Each of the three proposed buildings are described as ‘pods’, and they include an owner’s pod, a lodge and a meditation pod.

Japanese architecture firm Kengo Kuma & Associates has designed each of the buildings using curved designs and plant-covered roofs “to blend the buildings into the undulating landscape that surrounds them,” application documents say.

Buildings have been designed to blend in with the landscape, applicants said.

In the lodge pod (designed to appear like three separate pods) each guest suite would be provided with uninterrupted north-facing views towards Lake Wānaka and the Southern Alps and guests would also have access to spa facilities, a library and multiple pools. 

The owner’s pod would sleep another six, and has room for a theatre lounge, office and spa across more than 500m2.

Peter Thiel is a tech entrepreneur best known as the co-founder of Paypal.

The last proposed pod is dedicated to meditation, providing a “quiet space away from other buildings, to allow guests to reflect, meditate and take some time out,” application documents say. 

Up to 15 people would staff the property at peak times but none would live on site, and a walking track around parts of the property would have “specifically located viewpoints where guests can admire the view”.

The property is located in Damper Bay off the Wānaka-Mount Aspiring Road.

The property, located off Wānaka-Mount Aspiring Road, has been in the spotlight before, when the Upper Clutha Environmental Society (UCES) successfully opposed attempts by former landowners, Damper Bay Ltd, to create a three-lot, six-house development on the site.

UCES secretary Julian Haworth told the Wānaka App the society hadn’t yet had the chance to meet to discuss the current application with the society. 

However, his “first impression was that this is a considerable amount of development proposed on a site situated within sensitive Outstanding Natural Landscape [ONL] at Damper Bay.” 

The 193ha site, formerly pastoral land, is around 10 minutes’ drive from Wānaka. 

The buildings would “almost certainly” be visible from the track and the lake, he said. 

A QLDC representative said the applicant had requested the application be publicly notified.

Peter, a successful tech entrepreneur, controversially received New Zealand citizenship despite having spent only 12 days in the country before it was granted.

Read more: How Peter Thiel got citizenship

IMAGES: Supplied