Some 400 students from Year 1 to Year 13 attend the school which occupies a corner site and was struggling with a declining role on a campus that had little coherence.
RTA Studio rationalised a masterplan that reorientated the entry axis towards nearby Mount Pīhanga at the northernmost post of Tongariro National Park. As project architect Matt Wyatt explains, “The main access was on busy main road which raised safety concerns and parking issues. We relocated it to the adjacent street closer to the administration block.”
A build programme progressed as funding allowed. First the administration block was upgraded with some counselling rooms added, then the technology, arts and science centre was updated. Senior-school classrooms were next on the list and finally, at the beginning of the 2025 academic year, the supporting facilities of the gymnasium were refurbished.
In line with today’s pedagogical thinking, the old cellular classrooms and the central hallway circulation in the teaching blocks were reconfigured into more free-flow, open-plan modern learning environments, with break-out rooms provided for smaller groups. “Within the deep footprint of the building, the challenge was to bring light into the internal spaces, so we added three pop-tops with clerestory glazing in the central spine of the block,” says Matt.
Finishes are expressed in colours that speak the language of the Central Plateau, inspired by the natural surroundings: the mountain, the river and the forest. In a school once painted colonial white, these chromatic moves are playful but also culturally aligned.
Inside, wallcoverings and carpet tiles are in a palette of greens (trees), reds (volcanic) and blues (water). Outside, the colours distinguish the separate blocks, with weatherboards in reds making a statement on the science and technology building, blues for the senior school and forest tones reserved for future planned classroom works. “It was a complex paint-by-numbers operation with every single weatherboard a different tone,” says Matt.
These decorative changes may sound basic, but they have had a significant impact. The school has taken the colour scheme and really run with it by painting the dental clinic and library to match. Whereas previously staff and students went to school in a set of classrooms that didn’t feel like theirs, this has provided a sense of ownership.