Waiaroha
Water Discovery Centre
Heretaunga, Hastings, NZ
Activating a Groundbreaking Civic Vision
The blueprint for Waiaroha was born from a visionary concept: rather than hiding a fully operational inner-city drinking water treatment plant, what if we celebrated it? With this bold vision established by Hastings District Council, local iwi, and the appointed architectural and landscape agencies, the project faced its next critical hurdle: how to ensure the site successfully delivered on its mandate for public education and community engagement.
The Council brought Stitchbird on board to solve this specific challenge. Our role was to bridge the gap between the physical infrastructure and the public—designing the strategic and operational solutions required to transform a complex utility site into a deeply engaging, educational destination and tourism showcase.
The Visitor Experience Blueprint
Stitchbird explored investment options and defined the operational model for public engagement. We authored the scope and brief for the site's visitor experience, ensuring clear educational outcomes to fit into a resourced operating model.
Building upon the project's foundational bicultural narrative, we facilitated targeted engagement with iwi advisors and artists, the education sector, and regional water organisations. Our focus was on translating these high-level narratives into a tangible educational journey—a specialised visitor experience layer designed to seamlessly overlay the architectural and landscape base packages.
Translating Strategy into Experience
With the engagement strategy defined, Stitchbird was appointed to oversee and deliver the comprehensive visitor experience package. Our core goal was to encourage the community to treasure wai—our most precious taonga—and to bring the unseen magic of the region’s massive hidden aquifer, Heretaunga Haukunui, to the surface.
The strategic visitor experience layer invited the public to touch, twist, play, and explore—elevating a critical municipal utility into a vibrant hub for regional water learning.
Navigating the immense logistical challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic and Cyclone Gabrielle, we delivered a robust, highly interactive ecosystem. This included brand identity, interpretive signage, physical and digital interactives, and the coordination of toi Māori and bespoke sculpture. Inside the whare ako (discovery centre), we designed a highly modular, multi-use engagement space that effortlessly transitions from hosting school groups to serving as a premium venue for hire.
A Collaborative Blueprint for Civic & Cultural Infrastructure
Waiaroha stands as a highly successful collaborative model for the future of Aotearoa’s civic and cultural infrastructure.
The visionary co-location model and the innovative delivery of the project have been recognised at the absolute highest levels of local government and international placemaking, including the 2024 local government Taituarā Supreme Award, 2025 City Nation Place Global Award for Best Placemaking Initiative and multiple national Best Design awards.
"Waiaroha is a world-first meld of education, community engagement, place-making, and state-of-the-art water management in a single project. The promotion of a mix of wellbeing outcomes, innovative thinking, and recognising an opportunity from what might have otherwise been seen as a challenge all go to the very purpose of local government..."
Judges, 2024 Taituarā Local Government Supreme Award
