The Pā

Client:
The University of Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato

Location:
Kirikiriroa Hamilton

Completion:
2023

Size:
6,500m²

Design Partners
Jasmax, Design Tribe and Wraight & Associates

Contact:
James Mooney

The Pā is an innovative and versatile facility designed to transform the on-campus experience for the University and its community. Located on a prominent ridge, The Pā provides a welcoming new main entrance and student hub for the Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato’s Hamilton Campus together with a significant ceremonial space that reflects the University’s unique character.

Organised along the primary east-west pedestrian axis through the campus The Pā brings together four key projects under one roof structure; the Wharenui to the east, a wing for the University executive leadership team to the south, a central student hub, and the refurbishment of the Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Studies Building A on the western edge.

The Wharenui is the central generating form creating The Pā roof which reaches out to encompass a collection of new and existing spaces in one inclusive gesture. Conference facilities, offices, teaching and support areas as well as a re-purposed existing building, are all interlaced around a highly adaptable, social hub. This new student hub offers both indoor and outdoor spaces for socialising, eating and learning and will be a year-round home of campus life.

The Pā provides for a variety of intimate and large scale, informal and traditional functions but is ultimately a multi-purpose facility that prioritises University community, interaction and wellbeing.