Description:

With objectives to improve sustainability targets, maximise resiliency and amalgamate staff into a single unified site, Designgroup Stapleton Elliott (DGSE) worked with Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency to deliver their new National Premises, located within Bowen Campus in the heart of Wellington’s parliamentary precinct.

The aspiration was to accommodate up to 1200 staff, with an emphasis on environmental outcomes, social sustainability, and sense of place – setting the overall tone and trajectory for project.

As the Lead Consultant DGSE was involved in all stages, from the development of a robust workplace strategy and reverse brief, through to design, documentation, site observation, FF&E, and cultural expression.

The outcome is a 9000m2 interior fitout spanning seven interconnected levels. Integrating emerging workplace design thinking and exploring the limits of activity-based working, spaces are arranged to provide a spectrum of collaborative settings, focused working environments, gathering spaces, and end-of-trip facilities. Overlooking Wellington’s iconic elevated State Highway artery, a central café is positioned midway up the building as a unified place for people to converge and recharge.

The project is a turning point within the organisation, shaped by a new people-focused brand expression and an emphasis on social responsibility. Working in partnership with DGSE’s Indigenous Design Rōpū (IDR) and Waka Kotahi, a bespoke Te Ao Māori narrative was developed around Ki Uta Ki Tai – from mountains to sea. This acknowledges the balanced natural order of ecosystems – a foundational characteristic that speaks to the essence of Waka Kotahi’s role within Aotearoa New Zealand. The narrative is expressed within tactile architectural surfaces and through variation in earthy tonal variation – gradually revealed as users transition from floor to floor.

Through a focus on embedded cultural integration, innovative space planning, and challenging organisational norms, the new national premises offers a fresh, dynamic, and immersive people-centric environment for staff, partner agencies and visitors to come together.