Waimarie

Waimarie was officially opened on 27 September 2023 at an event attended by Lincoln University staff and students, leaders from neighbouring CRIs, industry bodies, dignitaries, research partners, construction contractors and other stakeholders, with then-Agriculture Minister Hon Damien O’Connor together with Puamiria Parata-Goodall cutting the ceremonial ribbon.

Waimarie replaced the University’s former earthquake-damaged science buildings, and received $80 million in Crown funding for its construction. It was designed by Warren and Mahoney and constructed by Leighs Construction Ltd.

The first stage of Warren and Mahoney’s Waimarie design process was to consider the wider Lincoln University campus as an accelerated continuum from education to research to real-world application.

Warren and Mahoney Principal, Jonathan Coote, explains: “Design briefing involved intensive workshopping with all stakeholders – including lead scientists, farmers, research institutes, student bodies and mana whenua – to create an enduring and interconnected environment of learning, research and collaboration spaces, where the best and brightest could come together to address global land-based challenges. The architectural outcome is a highly connected amalgam of flat-floored teaching spaces, research and teaching laboratories and collaborative spaces that allows for seamless cross-collaboration of students, agri-business partners, research and academic staff. The result places science on display, extending the student learning experience into real-world scientific application, and vice versa.”

A prime consideration for the design team was to indelibly link Waimarie to the whenua on which it stands.

“The team crafted a clear and legible design vision that embodies Lincoln University and Te Taumutu Rūnanga’s values with a design outcome that carefully references the neighbouring heritage while expressing its place in the wider Lincoln context,” says Jonathan Coote.

In line with the University’s sustainable infrastructure goals, Waimarie will have a minimal environmental impact; incorporating solar arrays, a ground-sourced heating/cooling system and a rainwater-fed toilet flushing system in the design.

The building is insulated with 10 tonnes of locally-grown wool from 2000 sheep, and the supplier of the 100% NZ wool carpet is owned by over 700 Kiwi wool-growing farming families.

The 417 roof- and wall-mounted solar panels wreathing the new building bring the University’s total annual solar generation up to a very significant 802,000 kWh – equivalent to the annual electricity requirement of 110 average Kiwi households.

Recycled materials were used wherever possible in the building’s construction, including Pulverised Fuel Ash in the concrete pours. Oak beams installed in the ground floor teaching spaces were milled from oak trees which had to be felled on the Lincoln campus in 2018.

The Canterbury clay brick façade was extracted and made within the Selwyn district.

A seismic dampening solution from Tectonus, featuring rocking shear walls, decreased the steel weight of the building and reduced the foundation depth while increasing the building’s earthquake resilience.

Waimarie awards list
•    2024 World Architecture Festival – Higher Education and Research – Completed Projects – Winner
•    2024 – Building Nations – Excellence in Innovation
•    2024 – INDE. Awards Asia Pacific – Best Learning Space Winner
•    2024 – Property Council South Island People in Property Awards – Excellence in Sustainability Award
•    2024 – Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects Canterbury Architecture Award – Education
•    2024 – NZ Commercial Project Award – National Category Winner – Education
•    2024 Property Council NZ Awards – Education Property Award – Merit
 

Cultural Narrative

Te Taumutu Rūnanga have gifted Te Whare Wānaka o Aoraki Lincoln University with a suite of names for our flagship science facility and the spaces within, in support of He Puna Karikari Cultural Narrative 2016 – the narrative which re-establishes the cultural identity of Ngāi Te Ruahikihiki and Ngāi Tahu in Lincoln.

Landing at Whakatū (Nelson), Rākaihautū travelled by land southward. Along the way he used his digging stick Tūwhakaroria to dig the many lakes and waterways, ‘kā puna karikari’, throughout the island. The phrase ‘kā puna karikari’ recognises the three types of springs or waterways dug by Rākaihautū – Puna Hauaitu, Puna Waimarie and Puna Karikari.

Waimarie references kā puna waimarie, the bountiful lakes. The new building will be a facility which inspires and produces a bounty of rangahau and mātauranga about our whenua and for our whenua.

The name Waimarie reflects the He Puna Karikari narrative, reinforcing the notions of exploration, cultivation and leadership as gifted to us by our tipuna Rākaihautū.