Te Kōngahu (the new Museum and Education Centre) is located on a previously modified piece of land bounded by Tau Henare Drive to the west, the Reception Building to the east and parking to the north and south. The building provides 664sqm of museum display, 108sqm of storage plus the upstairs gallery and learning centre. All temperatures and humidity are controlled to the national museum standards.

Paramount to Architect John Scott’s thinking was the idea of the building becoming a part of the landscape. These ideas have been developed on and form the basis for the new building. The solid precast concrete walls of the building are treated with texture and colour to reflect an abstract of the shadow cast by the surrounding tree canopy. The building is cut into the landscape, effectively reducing the building’s apparent height and blending to the surrounding topography and environment.

”The new Museum of Waitangi is an addition to the country’s most historic precinct and complementary to others there. It’s not seeking to be the star: it’s at the service of the visitor’s experience of our country beginnings; it’s a long awaited treasure box for the return of some of the North’s most precious taonga and will tell it’s stories in a new way for a new generation.” – Bill Mckay