PHOTO: Te Whare Nui o Tuteata
When people walk into Te Whare Nui o Tuteata it’s quite likely they’ll reach out to touch its timber beams.
The $14 million Rotorua building is Scion’s front door for the public and its partners.
“You don’t find people hugging concrete columns or steel beams,” Doug Gaunt, a Scion engineer says. “Wood is a warm thing to touch.”
Scion was formerly known as the Forest Research Institute and and specialises in research, and science and technology development for forestry – and for wood and other bio materials
The striking, three storey timber building is clad in radical looking glass with three triangular structures at the front symbolising the maunga of local hapū.
Scion sustainability architect and its portfolio leader for trees to high value wood products, Andrea Stocchero, says the building show-cases what it is possible to do with sustainably sourced wood from New Zealand’s forests.
Photo: Supplied
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