Te Whare Oranga Tangata o Whakaue — Mental Health Wellbeing and Recovery Unit

Te Whare Oranga Tangata o Whakaue Mental Health Wellbeing and Recovery Unit (previously Mauri Ora) is a new 20-bed acute mental health and addictions inpatient facility for Health New Zealand Lakes, located on a greenfield site within the Rotorua Hospital campus. Designed by Chow:Hill, TOA and IPM through an extensive co-design process with clinicians, service users and Manawhenua of Ngāti Whakaue, the facility is shaped equally by clinical need, cultural identity, and the aspiration to create an environment that genuinely supports healing.

The single storey building is arranged around four internal courtyards, with bedroom pods organised to allow flexible cohorting by gender, age, and clinical need. Key spaces include the Whare Whakatau entry, the Whare Manaaki healing space, a therapy courtyard, whanau room, and community accessible meeting facilities, all oriented to maximise natural light and connection to the surrounding landscape.

The legend of Hinemoa and Tutanekai, a story of a courageous journey across the waters of Te Rotorua Nui a Kahumatamomoe toward love and belonging, provides the overarching cultural narrative. This journey is expressed through the ceramic frit of the entry glazing, the water as metaphor interior colour palette, and the progression of spaces from the deeper tones of acute care through to the lighter, open hues of shared and community areas.

Underpinning all design decisions is Te Ara Tauwhirotanga, the HNZ Lakes Model of Care, translated as pathways that lead us to act with kindness. The result is a facility where architecture, culture, and care are not separate considerations but a single, unified response to the needs of tangata whaiora and their whanau.

This project was designed and delivered in partnership with Health New Zealand Lakes, with Integrated Project Management (IPM) providing Health Planning services, TOA Architects leading Kaupapa Māori design, Resource Co-ordination Partnership (RCP) acting as Project Manager, Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB) providing Cost Consultancy services, WSP delivering structural, civil, fire, acoustic, and building services engineering, Bespoke Landscape Architects leading landscape design, McMillan & Lockwood serving as Main Contractor, and Hawkins Construction undertaking the early works package.

In the media: A sanctuary of wellness by LaurenJames

Photography Credits: Health New Zealand - Stephen Parker // Julie Zhu