The home’s exterior is designed to blend in with the natural environment.

The Wanaka App will be regularly featuring a Wanaka property you might not have seen before. Big, small, new or old, we will aim to show you some of Wanaka’s wackiest and most wonderful homes.

This week’s property snoop may be hidden far from civilisation, but it hasn’t escaped the eye of international admirers.

Nestled among the tussock covered hills of Roy’s Peninsula, ‘Te Kaitaka’ has just been recognised by BBC as one of the world’s top mountain homes. It’s just another accolade for the house, which has been named the winner of the best New Zealand design (Living Channel), the NZIA award for architecture and the ‘Home of the Year’.

Natural textures and bold lines are found in every room.

If ‘Te Kaitaka’ was a person, he or she would probably shrug off the compliment bashfully. It’s a modest, solid, and deceptively clever feat of architecture. Its generosity in size is hardly noticed amongst the backdrop of the lake and mountain ranges, and the home’s interior - despite being sumptuous - is both informal and intimate.

Coco Chanel once said that luxury wasn’t the absence of poverty, but the absence of vulgarity. If we abide by the the design legend’s definition, then this home is as luxurious as it gets.

With natural colours and materials at every turn and shapes inspired by nearby hay barns, Te Kaitaka is an exercise in restrained elegance, both functional and beautiful.

Te Kaitaka by night.

It was designed by Auckland architecture firm Stevens Lawson, and has four bedrooms and five bathrooms. The house is owned by Mark and Suzanah Gray, who travel between Auckland and Wanaka. The pair wanted a generous and social home which could accommodate guests comfortably.

The house had to be designed around strict building regulations, with a strong adherence to the natural environment. The Steven Lawson’s website best sums up the accomplishment of Te Kaitaka: "The house is an exploration of the relationship between architecture and landscape and an investigation into regional difference.”

PHOTOS: Supplied