Movement in every direction

Active architecture

Projects
HIWA RECREATION CENTRE, UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND

HIWA RECREATION CENTRE, UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND

Hiwa – the University of Auckland’s world-class recreation centre – unites sport, study and social life into one vertical hub. Gifted its name by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, Hiwa means “vigorous, active, robust and sound” – qualities reflected in the building’s form and in the approach taken to deliver 26,000 square metres of high-performance facilities within a constrained city campus.

Designed by Warren and Mahoney in partnership with MJMA Architecture and Design, Hiwa was constructed by Hawkins, with cost management by RLB. The $320 million project is the University’s most ambitious and complex build to date – and that ambition has been recognised with several prestigious awards, including the 2025 International Olympic Committee Architecture Prize, the sports architecture category at the 2025 World Architecture Festival, and the Supreme Award at the 2025 Property Council New Zealand Rider Levett Bucknall Property Industry Awards.

At a glance

Client

University of Auckland
Services

Cost Management & Quantity Surveying
sector

Education & Research, Sport
Location

Auckland, New Zealand

Certainty through complexity

RLB’s team was appointed for its depth of experience managing complex, high-risk projects and its longstanding relationship with the University of Auckland. RLB interrogated the design using cost as an enabler of innovation, rather than a constraint. This approach gave the client confidence to pursue bespoke structural and façade solutions while maintaining budget discipline and delivery certainty.

Hiwa stands out for the lasting value it delivers to the University of Auckland and its students, but also for the way the project team worked together. There was strong collaboration across client, contractor and consultants, and a mature contractor-client relationship that allowed difficult issues to be resolved without losing momentum.

Hamish Dackers Director, RLB

Hiwa’s complexity lay in its fixed footprint and in a non-conventional diagrid column structure. RLB supported early contractor involvement by engaging the structural steel subcontractor during design, using active cost management to maintain budget certainty. The high-value stainless steel façade required the same approach, with RLB overseeing subcontractors to preserve cost discipline.

Vertical energy

Hiwa’s stacked design activates every level – from the aquatic hall with its eight-lane, 33-metre pool and dive tank to the sports courts, climbing walls and rooftop multi-sport turf that crown the building.

The southern hemisphere’s first glass-floor sports court features integrated LEDs that transform the surface from basketball court to football pitch to hockey field at the touch of a button.

26,000

m

²

facility area
8

levels of recreation and learning space
$

320

million total project value

A community in motion

Hiwa brings together students, staff and the Auckland community into one dynamic space. With cardio zones, climbing walls, cafés and outdoor terraces, weights rooms and group fitness spaces, squash courts, dance studios and a spin studio with an immersive 8-metre curved screen, the building encourages movement in many ways. An internal running route loops up the core stairs and around the main sports court on an elevated track, while social and study-break spaces are integrated throughout. The result is a facility where physical activity, learning and belonging are intentionally interconnected.

Delivering ambition with discipline

As the University’s most intricate build, Hiwa demanded precise cost control and adaptive planning. RLB guided decisions through pandemic-era uncertainty by interrogating design from the outset, acting as the contractor’s voice before procurement, and embedding buildability, logistics and risk thinking early. RLB’s team proudly carries these lessons into future campus and community projects.

Awards and recognition

HIWA Recreation Centre has been recognised with multiple honours for setting a new benchmark in human-centred design and university collaboration.

World Architecture Festival (WAF) 2025: Winner of the Sport Architecture category.

IOC IAKS Architecture Prize: Awarded the prestigious, jointly presented prize from the International Olympic Committee and the International Association for Sports and Leisure Facilities.

Property Council New Zealand Awards 2025: Supreme Award (Rider Levett Bucknall Supreme Excellence Award).

Property Council New Zealand Property People Awards 2025: Barker & Associates Supreme Excellence Award and Auckland Airport Best Team Award.

RGD Social Good Design Awards: Winner for Social Good Design & Branding Element — Environmental/Experiential.