Hiwa Recreation Centre
Hiwa Recreation Centre
Hiwa Recreation Centre
Hiwa Recreation Centre
Hiwa Recreation Centre
Traditional MĀori culture looked to the constellations as a roadmap for daily life, the late June rising of the Matariki star cluster (known as the Pleiades in Greek mythology) marking the start of a new year. Renewal and growth follow, and so the Hiwa Recreation Centre in Auckland — named after Hiwa-i-te-Rangi, one of the stars in the cluster — needed an aspirational graphic identity to match.
Hiwa’s wayfinding program is a love letter to the Indigenous peoples of New Zealand, with countless thoughtful details throughout. Toronto firm MJMA Architecture & Design worked with New Zealand–based studios Haumi and Warren and Mahoney Architects to develop a kaupapa (framework) translating cultural signifiers into colours, patterns, carvings and signage throughout the eight-storey, 26,000-square-metre centre.
In the lobby, a magnificent 2.6-metre-diameter wall hanging carved on reclaimed ancient wood showcases a takarangi, a double spiral representing “swirling heavens” and the merging of land and water. That central concept rises throughout the vertical volume: Blue battens and interlocking ao korikori spirals line the basement walls to channel the water; yellows and greens climb through the upper floors like a tree canopy; and pink battens at the top read as sunset sky.
More whakairo (carvings) are inlaid on stair handrails and on the front reception desk. Windows are glazed with traditional latticework patterns called tukutuku, sparse enough on team-sport room windows for spectators to peer through, and dense on yoga and dance studios to ensure privacy. Lockers carry routered custom typography referencing traditional adzing techniques, and a four-lane one-kilometre track circuits the building for bidirectional hīkoi (walk) or oma (run) activities. To include everyone on the journey, navigational and informational signage runs in Māori, English and Braille. Anyone can find their course at the Hiwa Recreation Centre.
Team: Tim Belanger, Ted Watson, Tarisha Dolyniuk, Aaron Letki, Chris Wanless, Vanessa Tarasio and Raymundo Pavan (MJMA); Karl Johnstone, Ricky-Lee Mitai and Aaron Troy (Haumi); Blair Johnston, David Mahon and Tony Dew (Warren and Mahoney Architects)
