Puzzling World

Condon Scott Architects were engaged as the architects for Puzzling World, a tourist attraction in Wanaka, New Zealand. This was a unique architectural commission, a fun challenge spanning two major design stages in 1999 and 2013.

Stuart Landsborough’s Puzzling World has evolved over 30 years into a series of complex spaces and forms that house an extensive collection of illusions. Puzzling World has been an ongoing process of giving built form to the challenging ideas of the owner’s imagination and creativity. These ideas include: The Tumbling Towers – (containing the Tilt room), the Hologram Room, the Following Faces Room, the Ames Room, the Roman Toilets, the Tea Rooms (with mirrored ceilings and winding roof) and the Leaning Tower.

In 2013, Condon Scott Architects were engaged for a second stage of design work, to create a new space that completed a full circuit of the existing illusion rooms.

The centrepiece of the illusion hall was to be a double height green wall feature, with a number of commissioned sculptures they wished to place along the route through the building. A double height form with clear storey glazing, the main illusion hall features a large glazed skylight to maximise light to the green wall.

To comply with the roading restrictions, the four secondary exhibition spaces are faced with curved planes presenting blank faces to the road whilst allowing natural light in from the west. These curved forms are gently sloped to create a sense of rhythm and movement along this busy road.