Heke Rua Archives New Zealand

Heke Rua Archives is a state-of-the-art archival facility, designed to protect Aotearoa New Zealand’s documented heritage with highest levels of technical performance, located in the heart of the Parliamentary Precinct. It provides an archives repository and specialist facilities for Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga Archives New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa National Library of New Zealand and Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision. This project represents a significant stake in the ground, in reinstating the presence of a displaced Indigenous Māori community. Heke Rua is a building that doesn’t shy away from its Māori identity and serves to remind the Crown of the Indigenous peoples who once called this site – Pipitea - home. The project’s overarching design approach was implemented to allow Archives New Zealand and Mana Whenua (Indigenous people with status over this land) to offer a shared identity. This took form through a whenua-specific narrative and visual and spatial languages that act as a restorative tool for Mana Whenua visibility and relationship with this important site - the original Pā site for Mana Whenua who were displaced to allow for the establishment of the Parliamentary Precinct. Significant investment in a co-design process with Mana Whenua has resulted in a mana-enhancing experience for all involved. This provides an authentic design outcome representative of the aspirations for the physical and operational outcomes for Archives New Zealand and the preservation of the ‘evidence of New Zealand’. Archives New Zealand has never had a national purpose-built facility, and it was apparent the project must provide more than just a place to ‘collect and protect our nations memory’ but extend itself to co-create a place that acknowledges the special content ‘owha’ (heirlooms) it contains. The design outcome delivers not only on the functional and aspirational requirements for Archives New Zealand, but also provides a truly meaningful expression of the importance of this site and the status of Mana whenua; providing a vehicle for greater expression and long-term dialogue between Indigenous peoples in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Crown – New Zealand Government.