Performance Art Centre
Sir Howard Morrison Centre
The Sir Howard Morrison Centre is a cultural hub, the puumanawatanga where Māori and Pakehā culture, manaakitanga and toi whakaari are woven together. The original Municipal Building (1938), with Spanish Mission influences, served as Rotorua’s civic centre and was converted into a Convention Centre in 1995. It became a performer arts venue in 2014, then closed to the public in 2017 for earthquake strengthening and refurbishing. The brief required a focus on venue flexibility heritage of the building and Ngāti Whakaue, and Sir Howard Morrison’s legacy. The solution involved peeling back the 1995 addition, revealing the original heritage wings, and inserting a standalone foyer structure enriched with Te Arawa/Ngāti Wakaue design ideologies, A challenging collaborative project, meticulously considered and masterly crafted.
2023 Waikato/Bay of Plenty Architecture Awards Winner – Shand Shelton and First Light Studio Ltd. NZ Institute of Architects
“I used the same process of integration as I do in many of my integration projects. I created a Kaupapa Kōrero – cultural document specifically to capture aspects of Ngāti Whakaue design and cultural perspective through visual patterns, colour palette, texture, and materials culminating in a usable table of contents, kōrero and space allocations. This was presented and adopted by the project team and became the connection point where all design conversations began and were agreed to.” Henriata Nicholas
Sir Howard Morrison’s legacy will ‘live on forever’ as performing arts centre opens
The brief demanded a truly aspirational venue, with the design response requiring a paradigm shift in thinking to meet the building’s potential as a benchmark performing arts centre.
The new foyer is glazed, supplemented with aluminium elements to create a deliberate juxtaposition between contemporary and traditional materials to delineate the modern from heritage.
Exposed engineered timber roof framing extends through the foyer facade, seamlessly linking the exterior and interior environment. Timber is strategically used throughout to promote points of interest. Traditional Te Arawa and Ngāti Whakaue design ideologies have teen woven into the building by local Ngāti Whakaue artist and designer Henriata Nicholas who provided a design guidance as well as bespoke cultural works for integration into the building’s architectural and aesthetic language.
The new foyer re-established the Spanish Mission heritage wings, balancing the facade, creating a sympathetic presence within the immediate urban landscape. The contemporary portray foyer represents an integrated cultural design, reflecting mana whenua status and connections, imbuing an offering of embrace, and welcoming to its patrons and performers alike.
The Sir Howard Morison Centre provides Rotorua with a nationally significant, contemporary performing arts venue at the heart of Te-Ika-a-Maui – a place to be poured of, to gather together and celebrate; one that gives real meaning to the gift of Ngāti Whakaue. The buildings heritage facade has been re-established, with the building whole now infused with cultural representation appropriate of the site and the greater Rotorua region. The project’s success in this aspect, as well as it’s prominence as a pubic building, looks to encourage further collaboration with mana whenua for future projects within the region to continue the promise of Rotorua’s Vision 2030 and Wood First Policies to create uniquely Rotorua experiences.
NZIA Local Architecture Award – Public Architecture
Judges Citation: “The Sir Howard Morrison Centre is a cultural hub, the puumanawatanga (beating heart) where Māori and Pakeha culture, manaakitanga and toi whakaari are woven together. The original Municipal Building (1938), with Spanish Mission influences, served as Rotorua’s civic centre and was converted into a Convention Centre in 1995. It became a performing arts venue in 2014, then closed to the public in 2017 for earthquake strengthening and refurbishing. The brief required a focus on venue flexibility, heritage of the building and Ngāti Whakaue, and Sir Howard Morrison’s legacy. The solution involved peeling back the 1995 addition, revealing the original heritage wings, and inserting a standalone foyer structure enriched with Te Arawa/Ngāti Whakaue design ideologies. A challenging collaborative project, meticulously considered and masterly crafted.”
Master Builders Association New Zealand Commercial Property Awards
Heritage and Restoration Project Awards – Gold
Judges Citation: The Sir Howard Morrison Centre has been home to some of Rotorua’s most exciting, diverse, and cultural art performances. Originally built in 1938, it is listed as a Category 1 heritage structure. Since the completion of the project, the Centre now has a chain-driven orchestra lift platform and an increased capacity across all theatres. Following a seismic assessment where the Centre received an New Building Standard (NBS) of 10%, it was shut down and fenced off. It now has an NBS rating of 70%. The biggest challenge was the ground conditions due to the geothermal environment and the risk of hydrogen sulphide, along with the construction sequence. This was planned meticulously, with 40% of the building being dismantled, while at the same time, strengthening work was being done on the remainder of the building. The Sir Howard Morrison Centre will continue to be used for performing arts and other significant regional events, it is expected to help generate $50 million annually for the Rotorua local economy.
Rotorua’s Sir Howard Morrison Centre is destined to reclaim its place among Aotearoa’s most beloved performing arts venues. In exceptional new facilities built where the performing arts greats of our past once held forth, a new generation of performers will find their feet on the stage.
As the revitalised centre approached construction completion, Rotorua Lakes Council (RLC) identified the need for a wayfinding strategy to ensure the facility was spatially legible and intuitive for those that would move through it.
We worked with Pūkenga Matauranga Māori Kingi Biddle, artist Henriata Nicholas and RLC stakeholders to develop a wayfinding response which would connect with and strengthen the kōrero underpinning the architecture, artwork and naming of the revitalised SHMC. The resulting kaupapa emphasized a sense of being present in the space: kei kōnei koe.
Manaakitanga is expressed in the second foundation element of the response. This established the principle that the wayfinding be ‘there, but not there’ – coming forward to welcome and assist, but receding when help is not required.
‘There, but not there’ was realised simply in the design system by drawing a neutral material palette directly from the interiors of the space and building a visual language in complement to Henriata Nicholas’ integrated artworks.
The graphic and product language uses a base pattern derived from traditional tāniko – used by Henriata Nicholas to adorn the seat fabric within the main auditorium – which then defines the geometric language of the three-dimensional pictograms. The outcome supports RLC’s wood-first policy by fabricating the iconic pictogram suite from sustainably grown timber.
The applied information strategy allows theatres to be the main focus, whilst providing energy to other key environments, such as the studios, cafe and bar.
The front-of-house wayfinding system for SHMC supports the function of the space and helps to knit architecture and artworks together, while keeping the spotlight turned firmly towards the performers.
Other Projects
Multiple design areas
Victoria Park Tunnel
Auckland City Council
Exterior Pattern Design
Mt Albert Railway Station
Auckland Transport
Walkway Bridge
Waikowhai Coastal Path
Auckland City Council