The architectural intent was to capture and reflect Rotorua’s people and history in a contemporary and engaging way. Rotorua showcases Maori culture to the world within the environmental context of geothermal activity. This duality sets the city apart and makes it unique globally.
The inclusion of Maori culture into the architecture of Rotorua has often been mere tokenism . The architects were determined to avoid this in the new Police Station and engaged with a basic tenet of Maori architecture, treating the building as anthropomorphic, a living organism. This engagement with Maori architecture is contemporary and references tradition rather than repeating it. For instance , the entry is diminutive and of human scale, sitting under the buildings eaves as in the Wharenui
Further reference is created by the vertical precast elements along the building’s street frontage. They open or close the building to public view to varying degrees. The north end, housing archives, is mainly closed, while towards the entry the pre cast elements open to reveal the interior. They are evocative of the wooden palisades that fortified the outskirts of a Maori pa, protecting its people, just as the Police station protects and defends the community.
The evocative 84 meter long laser cut aluminium screen is cued from various forms of Taonga, such as the Kite (Manu Tukutuku), which resembles a bird with outstretched wings, the traditional Canoe Bailer (Tata/Tiheru) and the lintel (Pare). When the preliminary drafts of the building were presented to the Police however, it was they who identified the screen as being a Korowai, a Ceremonial cloak. Just as a Korowai drapes and protects its wearer, so too the screen drapes and protects the building, as, just in turn, the Police protect the community.
The metaphor, though unintended by the architects, is entirely appropriate.
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