Overview
Entrant:
Beca
Category:
11. Public & Community Building Award
Photographed by:
Simon Devitt
Key team members:
Beca (All Engineering)
Jasmax/Architectus/Design Tribe (Architecture)
RLB (Cost Management)
Mott MacDonald (Facades)
Acoustics: Marshall Day Acoustics
Hawkins Construction Limited
Completed in July 2023, The Pā creates a new civic heart for the University of Waikato—uniting a wharenui (Ko Te Tangata), a large student hub, executive wing, and the refurbished A Block under one sweeping, mass timber roof.
Its timber structure makes the values of manaakitanga tangible: warm, inclusive spaces, generous terraces and ātea, and capacity for events from daily study to 1,000 person ceremonies.
Judging Criterion (a): Public value, accessibility, community identity.
The Pā is explicitly civic in purpose and performance creating an iconic space for daily student life, graduations, teaching as well as conferences and regionally significant gatherings. Timber’s warmth and legibility promote everyday use and community pride; flexible venues (e.g., 600 seat Student Hub) welcome the public, while the marae complex anchors cultural life. International recognition (WAF shortlist) highlights how bicultural planning—generated from the wharenui—sets a new global benchmark for campus identity.
A mass timber primary frame of NZ sourced glulam lowers embodied carbon; adaptive reuse of the 1960s A Block retains existing structure and embodied carbon—pairing material efficiency with heritage continuity. Socially, timber’s sensory comfort supports well-being and gathering, increasing utilisation and community cohesion.
Civic generosity is expressed in the protective whakaruruhau roof and open terraces for pōwhiri and events. Concealed steel connections protect critical interfaces and preserve the clarity of the timber language; deep overhangs mitigate weathering, supporting long term performance in a high use public building. The project’s national awards reinforce quality and durability.
Large glulam beams and columns (including some of NZ’s longest single glulam members) carry the unifying roof; timber heke cross at the wharenui ridge, extending the cultural narrative structurally. Timber was chosen to authentically express bicultural identity, deliver lower carbon structure, and create calm, dignified civic interiors for learning and ceremony.
Added value (construction, aesthetics, cost/programme).
Construction: Engineered timber enabled long spans with reduced apparent mass and effective installation sequencing for complex geometry; services and AV were discretely integrated around the exposed frame without compromising design intent.
Aesthetics: A landmark civic interior of warm, continuous timber delivers a recognisable gateway for the campus—now celebrated by NZIA and PCNZ awards.
Whole of life value: Adaptive reuse plus timber’s low embodied carbon and finish as structure logic support durable, maintainable, and sustainable lifecycle outcomes for a public client.
Timber species:
The Pā aligns with Timber Unlimited’s mission to accelerate low carbon timber across NZ’s public realm. It demonstrates that mass timber—paired with adaptive reuse—can deliver high-capacity civic infrastructure, cultural authenticity, and award-winning architecture within a tertiary campus.