World Architecture Festival Shortlist

The World Architecture Festival shortlist has been released and Boffa Miskell planners and designers have been closely involved with three of the finalists from Aotearoa New Zealand.

The Pā (submitted by architects Architectus, Jasmax and DesignTRIBE in association) is a finalist in the Completed Buildings: Higher Education and Research category.

Boffa Miskell planners Dave Moule and Andrew Cumberpatch led the resource consent process. This involved coordinating the necessary technical inputs from external design and engineering consultants, preparing the application and liaising with Hamilton City Council through the consent processing period.

The University of Waikato seeks to redefine the university as a place of bicultural welcome, education, and connection. As a place of welcome onto the University’s Hamilton campus, The Pā is a multi-functional facility at the heart of student life, The Pā gathers a Māori ceremonial meeting house (wharenui), the Vice-Chancellor’s Office, a student learning hub, and the Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Studies beneath an all-encompassing roof known as a whakaruruhau.

Its entrance is marked by a carved gateway (waharoa) and gathering space (ātea) for ceremonial events and formal welcomes (pōwhiri) onto the campus. The project forms the most ambitious project in the University’s 60-year history and supports its aim to provide an authentic and immersive bicultural tertiary education experience to all students.

Te Tōangaroa | Auckland Stadium at Quay Park (submitted by HKS) has been short-listed in the Future Projects competition category.

The project transforms a 15ha brownfield site on the eastern fringe of Auckland's City Centre into a precinct incorporating commercial, residential, educational, and hospitality components alongside the stadium with an operable roof. The design envisions a versatile venue capable of hosting sport, music, conferences, exhibitions, and more. It also serves as a social and entertainment hub, enriching the urban setting of Te Tōangaroa even on nonevent days.

Peter Whiting, Stuart Houghton and Anastasia Turapina comprise the current Boffa Miskell team, part of the multi-disciplinary consortium progressing the concept through a business case/feasibility study.

Wai Ariki Hot Springs & Spa (submitted by architects RCG) is a finalist in the Completed Buildings: Hotel and Leisure category. Boffa Miskell designers Matt Peacocke, Morne Hugo and Topsy Steele conceived the strategy for the landscape design, both within and outside of the building footprint, to create a restful and relaxing environment for all users of the space based upon six cultural values of design. The landscape provides a strong structure for the building, anchoring it into the local vernacular and context of Lake Rotorua.

Wai Ariki Hot Springs & Spa wanted to create a luxury wellness facility like no other – architecturally, experientially and culturally – to provide ongoing value and future opportunity for Ngāti Whakaue and the local community through the design lens of Te Ao Māori worldview. The materiality of the building and interior read as a continuation of the landscape, echoing the palette of native plantings and histories of the site.

World Architecture Festival (WAF) will take place in Singapore from 6 - 8 November 2024, with live judging of all the short-listed entries.