Waitomo Caves Visitor Centre | Waikato

The landscape design for the visitor centre at Waitomo Caves embraces the inside-outside dichotomy of the iconic award winning building. Key objectives steering the landscape development are:

– The integration of the new visitors’ centre within its distinctive landscape context

– An amplified visitor experience that engages visitors from the moment they leave their car

The landscape draws upon the existing site’s assets, an impressive forest rich in vegetation and a unique geomorphology of which stone outcrops are a significant feature.

These qualities underpin the detailing and manifestation of the site’s key facilities which include: visitor parking areas and drop off; external spaces; pathways; associated site furniture; signage; and lighting. The proposed structures are functional, robust, legible and relate to the language of the visitors centre and overall caves aesthetic.

SUSTAINABILITY

The landscape design incorporates environmentally sustainable strategies with endemic species integrated into existing, and newly developed areas, of NZ native plant collections.

INNOVATION

The delineation between building and landscape is obscured, a living ponga wall drawn through the building’s belly, shifts perception of what is outside and what is inside The project highlights a distinctive and innovative response: the wall utilises ponga logs that soldier their way beneath the ceiling canopy - a vegetal element that is both structured and soft. A clear link to the exterior forested landscape, the wall supports a collection of NZ epiphytes which imbue the space with an almost prehistoric quality.

The success of this project is largely owed to a highly collaborative project team structure and client group partnership. The design team worked in partnership with the client group, Tourism Holdings Limited, Ruapuha Uekaha Hapu Trust and Department of Conservation, to collectively steer and develop a shared vision for Waitomo Caves.