Trans-Tasman interior architecture studio CTRL Space is set to expand into Queenstown, marking a strategic move into what is widely regarded as New Zealand’s fastest-growing tourism and hospitality region.
Founded in 2009 by industry leader Chris Stevens, CTRL Space has built a reputation for delivering design-led, commercially intelligent interiors across Australasia. With studios in Auckland and Brisbane, the practice is behind many of the region’s most recognised hospitality venues, hotels, and workplace environments. Now, with plans to open a Queenstown office in mid-2026, led by Senior Project Designer Summer Bishop, the studio is positioning itself at the centre of a rapidly evolving market.
Stevens said the timing is right. “Queenstown is the fastest-growing region in the country from a development and construction perspective, with a sustained wave of projects spanning luxury hotels, mixed-use precincts, and high-end food and beverage offerings. This expansion for CTRL Space is about having a local presence, boots on the ground, to better support our existing clients and engage with new opportunities, particularly in the hotel sector.”
A Market on the Rise
Queenstown continues to outperform the rest of New Zealand’s hotel market, setting new benchmarks for both demand and yield. Over the 2025–26 peak summer period, hotels recorded their highest-ever revenue per available room (RevPAR), with an 18.4 percent year-on-year increase, supported by strong occupancy across all hotel categories.
Air access has played a key role in this growth: Queenstown Airport saw a 13.8 percent year-on-year increase in inbound passengers from Australia, while Christchurch Airport grew 16.3 percent over the same period. Christchurch and Queenstown together accounted for 63 percent of total incremental growth in non-resident arrivals, underlining the growing importance of South Island gateways in driving visitor numbers and supporting hotel performance.
Underlying this performance are favourable market fundamentals: constrained supply, sustained demand from key international markets, and policy signals encouraging foreign investment in high-value assets. Reports indicate that overseas property enquiries have surged in some segments by up to 600 percent, reinforcing Queenstown as a priority destination for investors and developers.
Strategic Design for Next-Level Hospitality
By establishing a local presence in Queenstown, CTRL Space aims to embed itself more closely within the region’s development pipeline, offering on-the-ground insight and responsiveness that remote delivery cannot match.
The shift is also influencing how projects are being scoped. As developments grow in scale and complexity, there is increasing demand for partners who can think beyond individual touchpoints and consider the hotel as an integrated whole. CTRL Space’s involvement across planning, positioning, and delivery reflects a broader evolution toward a full-service design partner model—one that aligns design thinking with commercial performance from concept through to completion.
“We’re currently in discussions with a number of prospective clients in the hotel space,” Stevens added.
“What we’re seeing is a real appetite for design that goes beyond aesthetics. Operators want spaces that perform, tell a story, and create a point of difference in a competitive market.”
For CTRL Space, the move south reflects a clear alignment with that evolution: working with clients to deliver spaces that are both commercially robust and experientially distinctive, at a time when expectations for hospitality projects are rapidly increasing.