Tauranga Campus, University of Waikato

Tauranga Campus

Tauranga’s first major tertiary education facility for the University of Waikato

An agent of change in the community

University of Waikato’s Tauranga Campus is designed to foster world-class academic excellence and provide wide-ranging social, economic, and educational benefits to Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty region. The project was initiated through a partnership between the University of Waikato and Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology, and was funded by the University of Waikato, Bay of Plenty Regional Council, TECT and a land provision from Tauranga City Council.

In pursuit of a building grounded in its cultural heritage and connected with its physical context, the University of Waikato facilitated engagement with the iwi of Tauranga Moana and with Ngāi Tamarāwaho, mana whenua of the campus site. Rich and detailed conversations with kaumātua have imbued the project with a strong sense of place and created a cultural framework that informed all aspects of the design and ensured the integration of tikanga and mātauranga Māori processes throughout. The resulting campus creates a new typology, embodying cultural concepts into the very fabric of the architecture and spaces. For the University of Waikato, this building provides the foundation for delivering a bicultural tertiary education.

The overarching aim for the project was to deliver a building that acts as an agent of change within the community, improving access to educational opportunities, and thereby economic, employment and wellbeing outcomes, in the region.

Reflecting a rich cultural heritage

The architecture of Tauranga Campus is approached almost archaeologically, weaving together components that recall the historic and cultural landscape of the peninsula to reflect the site’s legacy and significance to mana whenua. The volcanic cones of the area were extensively quarried after colonisation, an act that impacted the area’s landscape. Rhyolite from the cores of these cones is mixed into the precast concrete panels, memorialising this history as well as grounding the building explicitly in its natural environment.

The distinctive, origami-esque overlapping folded metal panels, which create a strong feature of the campus identity, were inspired by the skin of the mangopare (hammerhead) shark, made up of thousands of tiny overlapping teeth called dentals, protecting the animal like armour. These panels function as a kaitiaki for building inhabitants, evoking strength and dynamism while protecting the interior of the building from overheating. The mangopare symbolises resilience and fighting spirit to mana whenua and is embedded into the ancestral meeting house of Ngāi Tamarāwaho, where mangopare carving patterns adorn the tāhūhū (ridge beam) of the whare.

Throughout, architecture and artworks are integrated to represent a journey towards biculturalism and cross-cultural understanding. With an important educational function for the University and mana whenua, artworks were commissioned from local, award-winning artists and curated by Whare Thompson (Ngapuhi, Ngāti Whātua, Te Whakatōhea), who also produced the three largest carved pieces. These form the cultural pillars of the campus and serve to demarcate thresholds, signal tikanga, and celebrate the cultural heritage of Tauranga Moana and the wider Bay of Plenty. Resonant messages promote the building’s educational purpose and include themes such as perseverance, resilience, and ambition which are key values in the building’s ultimate aim – the education of future leaders.

In the cultural narrative of this university campus, we see an extension of our own ancestral meeting house. A tapestry of relationships and stories that honour time and place, creating a welcoming, inclusive and inspirational place for all to live and learn.

— Tamati Tata, kaumātua of Ngāi Tamarāwaho and Tauranga Moana