Belvedere - Waka Huia

Designed by PAC Studio, Waka Huia is a celebration of colour, character, and personal expression. At the heart of the home is a dramatic belvedere inspired by the grand railway stations of France. Crowned by a delicate lantern skylight and lifted into place by helicopter, the space forms a light-filled vertical journey through the home.

As Sarosh Mullah from PAC Studio describes it, "Waka Huia is a celebration of colour, where hue is treated as both a source of material and narrative." Guided by the client's lifelong appreciation of colour, warm apricot and golden tones create interiors filled with warmth, personality, and memory.

To support this vision, Ambitec Suave Polished Plaster was custom colour matched to Dulux Apricot Fool and applied in a medium polish finish. The polished plaster introduces colour, texture, and depth, creating surfaces that feel warm, soft, and luminous as natural light moves through the space.

The finish plays a particularly important role within the ceiling of the central Wunderkammer, where PAC Studio sought to elevate the ceiling from a background element into a defining architectural feature. As Sarosh explains:

"Due to the importance of this space, it felt like a disservice to treat the ceiling simply as a background plane when it is the element you are ultimately drawn towards as you climb through the space."

Responding beautifully to the changing light from above, the textured surface reinforces the drama and sense of arrival within the belvedere.

"The customised polished plaster finish gives the ceiling a depth that reinforces this sense of arrival. Its subtle variation catches and reflects the changing light, completing the vertical composition, drawing the eye upward and giving the belvedere its sense of drama, intimacy and architectural richness."

Through the thoughtful use of polished plaster, colour, and texture, PAC Studio has created a richly layered interior where materiality and architecture work together to tell a deeply personal story