Owairoa Primary School is a decile 9, multi-cultural school located in Howick Auckland with a current roll of about 800 students. Our brief from the Ministry of Education was to create a masterplan to suit 865 students as well as cater for future growth. To achieve this, 12 existing poor quality single cell classrooms and 6 temporary classrooms were to be removed and replaced with 18 new QLE teaching spaces.

The design response provides a new teaching facility that cleverly balances the aspirations of the MoE brief for designing quality learning spaces and the strong pedagogical drivers outlined by the school’s senior leadership team. It integrates and enhances the connectivity and urban fabric of the campus, maximises a previously underutilized area of the existing site and reflects the schools identity and values as a significant contribution to the students and school community alike.