BRIEF
The brief to PAUA Architects was to provide a new Cambridge Police Hub that reflects a partnership between Waikato-Tainui / Tainui Group Holdings as owners of the land, and New Zealand Police, as leasees of the building, to express a new approach to policing.
The project is significant, being the first joint commission between Tainui Group Holdings and the New Zealand Police. The architecture and interior are designed to respect and embody the Maaori cultural significance of connection to people and place.
PAUA Architects, the Waikato-Tainui cultural design team, and members of the NZ Police team, together refined the narrative for the project to ensure both cultural and stringent operational needs were met.
DESIGN SOLUTION
The Police Hub is designed to welcome the community as well as perform it’s function for police.
Embedded in the concept is a connection to Te Awa o Waikato (the Waikato River), lake Te Koo Utu and Karaapiro stream. The shape of the building is based around the double-hulled waka (canoe) that both links it to the site’s topography and represents the collaboration between Mana Whenua and NZ Police. The shape and pattern of korowai (cloak) is referenced in the external, curved stone wall. The alignment and shape of the building are sensitive to various maunga (mountains) and Waikato River connections.
In the lobby floor, aggregate stones are cast as a scale representation of the Waikato River and Karaapiro Stream junction.
This representation of Waikato’s feature waterways carries through to the carpets. In plan, the placement of blue tiles that evoke a sense of water thread through the spaces, mirroring the flow of the river. Green tiles are used in the Whanau meeting space, referencing the land.
The architects chose to use modulyss carpets both to express the design intent of water and land as the foundation of the design concept and also to meet their sustainability goals. The high recycled content in modulyss carpet tiles married with their re-use of materials throughout the build.
Products used: modulyss Fluid& 604, 569 and Velvet& 616, 541 from the & Collection by modulyss
AWARDS
Winner Architecture Awards 2023 for Public Architecture, Waikato and Bay of Plenty
Silver and a Judges Special Award at the NZ Commercial Project Awards 2023
A special award at the Master Builders national awards
PROJECT INFORMATION
ARCHITECTURE FIRM: PAUA Architects
LEAD ARCHITECT: Richard Mauriohooho
CONTRACTOR: Eli Jones – VanDyks Flooring Xtra
MAIN CONSTRUCTION: Alaska Construction
PHOTOGRAPHY: Mark Scowen
Heritage Carpets is the exclusive distributor of modulyss in New Zealand.