Located in the heart of Greymouth on the original site of Māwhera Pā, Te Ara Pounamu Māwhera is a purpose-built cultural experience.
Developed in close partnership with Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Māhaki Makaawhio and Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Waewae, and realised in collaboration with Wētā Workshop, the project immerses visitors in narratives of atua, tīpuna, pounamu trade and settlement. The architecture responds directly to its culturally sacred site, while delivering a tourism and community asset.
The building has three parts:
- The steel portal “shed” housing the exhibition space enables long, column free spans, significant load bearing capacity to support suspended interactive installations and ensures future flexibility to allow reconfiguration without compromise.
- A strong “shopfront” showcases mass timber. From the street view and entry, the timber structural elements are used aesthetically. The glulam cross braces visible through the expansive curtain wall, curve seamlessly with hidden fixing plates. These give the building a vertical height.
- The exterior cladding of locally produced macrocarpa emphasises the regional identity. The mid floor and shear walls are made of CLT which enables large spans in these areas. A curved shape is created by the midfloor, supported by smaller steel members which do not compete with the floor or cultural partitions, creating a floating effect. The internal timber finishes and exposed timber structural elements provide warmth, tactility and an environment aligned with the kaupapa of kaitiakitanga.
The large glulam canopy representing a traditional pākē (rain cloak) is covered with a translucent fabric protecting those who enter. A key of this was the canopy where more than 1,500 components manufactured in five factories, slotted together. The modelling performed by Red Stag with support of three engineers, the designer, project manager and contractor involved, came together like a hand in a glove. The steel nodes were critical in the process to enhance the timber components. It is a testament to this wider design team’s continuous improvement and support of each other.
The project combines NZ engineered timber structural elements with a large span steel framed experience area, yet on the face of it, it is a timber building.
The staged construction process and ECI process, further leveraged prefabrication. Close collaboration between consultants, fabricators, and contractors enabled iterative refinement, ensuring structural and construction benefits of CLT. In essence the budget was spent where it mattered. The purposeful integration of timber and steel achieved superior outcomes not possible in isolation. Timber alone would have limited achievable spans and suspended load capacity for the interactive fit out; steel alone would have resulted in higher embodied carbon and a less culturally resonant environment.
Through this hybrid approach, Te Ara Pounamu Māwhera creates a building where material choice is both a technical solution and a storytelling device, with their connection to the reclaimed home site, is now a source of pride for all in the region.
