Te Puia design scoops supreme award
Te Puia’s multi million dollar redevelopment recently took line honours for architect Harry Street of Creative Spaces at the New Zealand Timber Design Awards.
The award is the latest in a line of national and international accolades for the four main constructions that form the new Te Puia which has contemporised cultural tourism in New Zealand.
Te Puia is New Zealand’s largest and most established cultural tourism attraction and has been sharing the spirit of Manaakitanga for 135 years when the first European was deftly guided across the maze of geothermal pools and geysers.
Incorporating the New Zealand Māori Arts & Crafts Institute and the world renowned Te Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve, Te Puia is an iconic part of New Zealand’s tourism heritage.
These treasured elements and the rich cultural heritage of the site and her people were integral to the design process which architect Harry Street described as a “collaborative process, as successful design is.” The design concept was born out of a three-day hui that engaged all participants in the project which was then shared with the team at Creative Spaces.
Harry said that the project presented an “enormous amount of creative scope for the team who embraced every element of the challenge which was then passed on to the construction team. “
With a unorthodox roof line and expansive curved wooden structures, the main entrance building, Te Heketanga a Rangi and Nga Pu Manawa e Waru presents striking celestial pou and structural forms that stretch up toward the skies against a backdrop of steam rising from Whakarewarewa.
In determining the Supreme Award, the judges commented that the project “demonstrated a simple engineering concept with a complex architectural overlay. The designers have worked together to create a building that is both spatially engaging an d structurally fine. The cultural consideration of this project is sophisticated as is the nature of the gathering and community spaces that the building provides“.
The latest developments at Te Puia offer New Zealand’s most comprehensive cultural tourism experience that includes the award winning Te Whare Tapere interactive gallery featuring leading edge tourism technologies and an exciting retail gallery showcasing contemporary and traditional arts, crafts and souvenirs.
5 December 2007
