New Zealand Commercial Design Trends Series NZ Commercial Design Trends Vol. 33/03C | Page 19

Project
Te Ara o Mauao
Location:
Tauranga
Architect:
Chow Hill Architects
AWAKENED BY LEARNING
A new addition to Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology’s Windermere campus delivers
Creative Arts and Applied Technology learning facilities in a modern, flexible setting
Below:Metal, concrete panels
with a rough-sawn wood pattern
and cedar cladding all combine
as a multi-faceted skin for the
new Te Ara o Mauao facility,
designed by Chow Hill Architects.
The uppermost floor, with many
windows, floods light into the
central atrium directly below.
Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology was
born out of the merger of two institutions – Bay
of Plenty Polytechnic and Waiariki Institute of
Technology. The two combined in 2016 to better
meet the region’s education needs, with the resulting
new institute spread over five main campuses –
Rotorua, Taupo, Tauranga, Tokoroa, and Whakatane.
Te Ara o Mauao facility, designed by Chow Hill
Architects, is a recent addition to Tauranga’s
Windermere campus and forms part of a wider
Creative Arts and Applied Technology Precinct.
The facility is comprised of 3500m 2 of modern,
interdisciplinary tertiary learning space dedicated to
Art & Design, Music & Radio, Applied and General
Learning Technologies for around 700 students.
The clean-lined, multi-faceted building has a
strong presence on the campus, and is clad in
long-life, low-maintenance materials that accen-
tuate its dynamic architecture. These include
concrete panelling with rough sawn patterning,
Dimond Colorsteel Endura profile metal cladding
and an external steel coating system.
Project architect Jane Hill says the concept for
the building’s look was to an extent an unwrapping,
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