Population Health Complex

Client:
The University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau

Location:
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland

Completion:
2004

Size:
11,000m²

Project Value:
$22m

Contact:
Patrick Clifford

The building traverses its corner site in a boomerang-shaped curve; the analogy, developed in discussion with the late Rewi Thompson, is that of a wrap-around cloak, or filter.

A combination of public clinics, private offices and teaching spaces, the heart of the complex is the triangular central atrium which links all levels, bringing light and air into the complex.

The Population Health Complex occupies and signifies a prominent location on the University’s Tamaki Campus.

The building is the second project carried out under a new (1999) campus master plan, and provides a ‘gateway’ to a site that has, until now, been rather amorphous. It is a pivotal structure, designed to be expressive of itself, but also to accommodate existing neighbours on one side, and anticipate future buildings on the other.

Acting as the main circulation space of the building the atrium encourages social interaction and the breaking down of interdisciplinary barriers.

Two wings reach out from the atrium towards the series of existing H-shaped buildings, framing an internal courtyard. Connecting with the axes of those buildings, the new wings define the “Campus Spine” running through the north side of the campus, and bring it into the sheltering curve of the ‘cloak’.

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