Thyra Nelson

Working remotely while taking a year out from the office, I enjoyed taking time to sit and sketch shadows, sculptural structure and light.

Master Plan and 2 new blocks.
The low-pitched open plan building forms built in entirely timber structure, framing and cladding are at home in a conventional 20th century design model and incorporate modern building techniques. Collaboration with artist, Mike Tupaea, from concept stage, exploring Te o marama and Te Po – the world of day and night - in the education journey.

Master Plan and full redevelopment.
This tiny school north of Kaitaia is an internationally recognised Enviro School. The former Native School consisted of an extraordinary collection of art and garden spaces concealing a mismatch of dilapidated relocated asbestos units. The selected redevelopment mode for the isolated site included modular construction and on site services infrastructure. This school, with references to the dark grey manuka bushes and highlights of pink and white blossom that feeds the bees that inform much of its pedagogy, is a testament to community spirit.

The new '10TS' main teaching space and the 'MPS' multipurpose space are two complementary blocks, connected by outdoor learning spaces.

Prominent but light, the MPS is all roof and open. Deep eaves and large openings in the light walls extend the capacity of this welcoming public space, with its whare kai dining, sports, theatre and congregation spaces.

A strong dark exterior wraps the haven that is the new teaching space block.
A deep recess in the northern face, forms generous outdoor learning areas on both floors and enables great solar control. The two-storey atrium with amphitheatre seating provides a central double height learning space and encloses a child sized recess for retreat, akin to the volcanic caves below the site of Maungawhau 'Mount Eden', the largest Tāmaki Makaurau mountain that rests nearby.

Master Plan and full redevlopment.
Northland College is a significant cultural centre in Kaikohe, the Hub of the North, at the heart of the lands of Ngāpuhi people, Te Tai Tokerau, The Far North.
We were fortunate to speak at hui with Ngāpuhi Kaumatua and Kuia elders and Kaikohe community leaders during the master planning and concept design stages over four years.
The redeveloped campus has a central manawa, a clearly defined heart, and the main building’s elongated form allows the flow of people and knowledge through the wide curriculum suited to a modern learning environment, interconnected offshoots like the tentacles of te wheke.