One-car showroom wins award

The sharp angled showroom featuring just one Lexus vehicle won the Commercial building category at the recent New Zealand Institute of Architects Southern Awards.

Arrowtown-based Anna-Marie Chin Architects responded to the unique brief from GWD Lexus of Queenstown for a single car showroom by creating a sharp-edged building that mimics the jagged rocky peaks of the Remarkables in the background.

The Lexus is easily seen from vehicles travelling around an adjacent roundabout.

Anna-Marie Chin says GWD Lexus of Queenstown had set a great challenge for her practice and they had responded by treating the building as a marketing tool as well as a functional showroom. She said it has strong Lexus branding but with minimal signage.

“We created a building that could respond to the vehicle inside and reflect the surrounding environment with its harsh landscape of flinty greys, sharp lines, and ice,” Chin adds.

The building materials also reflect the styling of the new Lexus range. Its highly textured surface is similar to the mesh of the Lexus grill. Inside, there is room for a Lexus and a small lounge where customers can chat in private with a Lexus sales representative.

Glen Rutherford, CEO of GWD Lexus of Queenstown, says the company wanted to do something extraordinary and provide clients with a visually pleasing experience that reflected the start of the customer journey with Lexus.

Lexus New Zealand’s general manager of marketing, Andrew Davis, says the physical establishment of the brand in the Queenstown region was paying off for Lexus.

Lexus' sales in the first five months of 2019 were up 11 per cent on the same period in 2018.