AUT Tukutuku wins NZIA Auckland award
AUT’s newest building, Tukutuku at North Campus, was named as one of the winners at the 2025 NZ Institute of Architects Auckland Awards last week.
Located on the North Shore, Tukutuku was awarded as one of four projects in the Education category at an awards evening hosted at the Trinity Church in Parnell.
Five projects, from multiple entries, were shortlisted for awards in the Education category with AUT’s Tukutuku claiming one of the four top spots.
The judges praised the joy Tukutuku brings to everyone who engages and moves through the building with its strong, sustainable design and innovative architectural beauty.
“An ambitious university building that rationalises and ties together the layout of the AUT North Campus, Tukutuku demonstrates how a real commitment to sustainability and carbon capture can create a delightful place to be that is a joy to both inhabit and move around,” wrote the judges in their citation.
“This building is an exemplar, from the striking angled aluminium fin façade, arranged to mitigate heat gain while still providing views out and good daylighting through, to the warmth of the exposed mass timber structure and the dramatic atrium.
“It shows how well-considered, fully embodied, sustainable principles can infuse a significant piece of architecture that is an inspiring place of learning and uplifts the spirit.”
Tukutuku, which was officially opened in July 2024, is the largest development at the University’s North Campus at 9000m2.
The building houses the Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences and accommodates around 2000 students and 200 staff.
Named by Ngāti Paoa for its purpose of weaving together people and places with a shared purpose, Tukutuku is our most sustainable building and embodies AUT’s unique contribution and vision for the future.
AUT Vice-Chancellor, Professor Damon Salesa, says it is immensely pleasing that Tukutuku has been recognised and awarded by the NZ Institute of Architects for being the world-class building that it is.
"This award is a significant recognition of the transformational impact of Tukutuku and the meticulous care invested in its conceptualisation, design, construction, and delivery.”
“As the heart of AUT’s North Campus, this building serves our students, staff, and community, embodying our unwavering commitment to sustainability and environmental kaitiakitanga."
AUT collaborated closely with Ngāti Paoa and contemporary urban artist Janine Williams to co-design the cultural spatial framework plan for the building which applies a narrative lens from an iwi perspective over the planning of the spaces.
Janine says the narrative theme underpinning the spatial framework plan is the idea of the waka hourua, the double-hulled waka.
“The two different hulls of the waka work together in one journey, and this is symbolic of that partnership between the mana whenua and the university.”
“Traditionally, there is a sheltering, housing structure that sits at the centre of the waka,” says Janine.
“In the same way, Tukutuku, as the heart of the campus, becomes a place of shelter, protection and gathering, and it’s all about the relational value that comes from that.”
“It is a place that is protective and inclusive. You grow your relationships, you eat food there, you celebrate the important things and that’s what Tukutuku will provide.”
Janine also created three artworks for the building, alongside descendants of her iwi, including a large digital mural featuring kuaka, a representation of the iwi’s journey and partnership with AUT to bring about mātauranga Māori and stories of the surrounding moana.