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Oruku Landing - Events Centre
Concept Design

The key building of the Oruku Landing at the eastern end of the site is the Whangārei Events Centre. It is designed as a versatile venue accommodating up to 950 people. Featuring a double-height, glazed entrance leading to a foyer with a mezzanine level café and ground-floor administration, it aims to host conferences, trade shows, and performances. A crucial requirement for this project is to create a building that brings people together and celebrates its identity, local history, and values of Whangārei’s residents. This is achieved through the pragmatic use of the enclosure (designed to be durable, robust, and thermally and acoustically insulated) and through the façade’s material and structure.

Working in collaboration with Matakohe Architecture + Urbanism, portions of the external envelope have been enhanced to capture this connection to place in a defined way. Including; ornate rain and sunscreens (in the form of open weave pattern – kete kai), the main plaza’s use of “patterned” glass to the glazed space above the main entry, patterned weathering steel around the service rooms and an open weave geo-grid (open fishing net weave – kupenga) for a green wall to the north side of the building (providing visual connection to the pohutukawa to the edge of Riverside Drive and connecting to the landscape leading up to Parihaka’s summit).

Harris Butt Architecture
Northland

Professionals used in
Oruku Landing - Events Centre

About the
Professional

As Director and Principal Architect of HB Architecture, Grant Harris has infused the business with his singular passion for architectural design. Grant’s extensive formal training and qualifications are outmatched only by his practical
experience; over 40 years of his life have been dedicated to the expression of art through architectural form, resulting in countless completed projects.

We work with a range of clients and projects to design a varied range of commercial buildings that enhance workplaces and culture. From the Waitangi Treaty Grounds to Knoll Ridge cafe on Mt Ruapehu, visit our full commercial design portolio.

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