Parliamentary precinct set to grow
The new parliamentary precinct in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington includes four key projects designed within a core framework of sustainability, cultural partnership, and innovation.
Museum Street’s mass timber design aligns with Studio Pacific Architecture’s broader strategy to achieve a 6-Star Green Star rating.
Ballantrae Place building uses Coromandel tonalite resembling that used for Parliament House and The Beehive, while pleated metal cladding comprises its upper façade.
Studio Pacific Architecture has released its designs for four key projects which will reshape the New Zealand Parliament’s Western Precinct.
Forming part of Parliamentary Service’s Future Accommodation Strategy (FAS), the projects are made up of three new buildings — one on Museum Street, one on Ballantrae Place and a service building — and the surrounding landscape redevelopment.
Expected to be completed in 2027, the new spaces will offer flexible, resilient offices, improved public amenities and a renewed connection to the surrounding city.
The six-storey, base-isolated, mass-timber Museum Street building, currently under construction behind Parliament House, will house more than 600 parliamentary staff. The design’s cultural narrative, first apparent on the external metal screen with vertical fins which wrap around most of the building, was developed in collaboration with mana whenua.
“The screen acts as a cloak, symbolising the important roles of members of Parliament and Parliamentary staff,” explains overall FAS project lead Michael Davis. “It also provides practical solar shading to reduce glare and heat gain.” The patterns are inspired by niho taniwha, tukutuku panels and connections to the Waipiro Stream, which once ran through the site.
The two-storey Ballantrae Place building will centralise the precinct’s deliveries and logistics, with the relocated delivery point ensuring greater security at Parliament. Here, mana whenua have again been involved in design elements, such as the treatment of the building’s base, which symbolically represent the forces of water-based erosion, while poutama patterns incorporated into the upper metal façade reference knowledge and betterment, linking to the spiritual connection between Papatūānuku (the Earth Mother) and Ranginui (the Sky Father).
A smaller, new, more-utilitarian Service Building will support Parliament’s electrical infrastructure. As with the other two buildings, it will meet high structural resilience standards and has been thoughtfully integrated into the broader precinct redevelopment.
The landscaping project will see the once vehicle-dominated area become a safe, accessible, pedestrian-friendly environment, providing amenity for both Parliament and the public.
Studio Pacific is partnering with RCP, Aurecon, Holmes, Len Hetet (Baked Design), LT McGuinness, Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB), Fire HQ and Acoustic Engineering Services for the delivery of these projects.
